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January 13, 2011 Page 3 i
Congratulations on yourh
school-issued laptop!
In other news, your teacher
has been laid off.
Roc Doc
By Dr. E. Kirsten Peters
M king h
I guess I'm getting old. Really. I
know you doubt it, but it is true. It
really came to mind one day last
week. Well, really two days last
week. I'm kind of embarrassed to
tell you. but I did it. Something I,
had never done before. Something
I had sworn that I would never do.
To a guy that grew up driving in
the badlands, climbing around
gumbo hills, twenty-foot washouts,
snowdrifts higher than the cab of
the pickup, climbing up from the
Lost Bridge on glare ice, and
numerous other challenges, it was
cowardly. But I did it. I chained up
before I got stuck!
For forty years, Shirley has
begged, threatened, and cajoled me
to "put the chains on before we try
that hill". And for forty years I
have gently, but firmly explained
that a real man does not display a
lack of confidence by putting
chains on before it is absolutely
necessary. It is a sign of weakness.
A real man will put the chains on
after he has slid into the washout.
Or after he has slid into a tree and
smashed up the side of the pickup,
broke the mirror off, and jack-
knifed the trailer.
Oh, and I have dear reader, I
have. I carry the scars of being hit
by the handy-man jack (which is
rd decision
Hat Tips
By Dean Meyer
the most inaptly named invention
ever) while trying to jack the pick-
up up in a washout to put the
"bracelets" on a pickup. I have slid
off hills where mountain goats do
not venture, except under pristine
conditions.
But last week, I was hauling
some oil field stuff back in the
badlands. West of Grassy. Butte
that is. And it was glare ice. As
nearly every road from here to
Florida is, as of this writing. And I
had been forewarned. But, being a
wannabe cowboy, I didn't put
chains on until I started up a pret-
ty long hill. And the hill kept get-
ting steeper, and steeper. Then it
started to get steeper. I decided I'd
better chain up.
It had gotten a little steeper than
I had intended. And the parking
brake wouldn't hold the pickup. I
put it in four low and figured that
would, hold. Well, I hoped that
would hold. So there I am, sitting
half way up an icy hill with a won-
derful of a canyon below me. I
stood there with tears in my eyes as
that transmission fought gravity. I
would like to say that I quickly slid
under the pickup, slapped those
to chain up
chains on, and climbed that hill.
But, three hundred pound fat
guys don't quickly slide under any-
thing, unless there is food coming
out of it. I lay on my belly and try
to hook that inside chain. I couldn't
reach it and I was squeezing the air
from my lungs. I lay on my back
and try to reach under that pickup,
but my shoulders would not flex
enough. I lay on my side and by
thinking real small (did you know
that can help?) I could just barely
reach in and hook the chain. The
pickup inched back again and my
heart stopped. But then it started
again. Otherwise I wouldn't write
this.
Well, I made it. I got that old
baby chained up, clawed my way
up the hill, and made my delivery.
On the way out I met a tractor-trail-
er heading back in there. No chains
on. That's a real man I thought to
myself. The last I heard his truck
was still sitting crossways on that
hill, waiting for a Chinook.
The next day I had another load.
Up a steeper hill. At the shop they
told me to chain up all four wheels.
And be ready to bail out if I lost it.
I chained up on a nice level
spot. Getting old does have its
advantages !
Later, Dean
N. D. Matters
By Lloyd Omdahl
Le
To the editor:
The 62nd Legislative Assembly
has convened and is off to a running
start. Gov. Dalrymple's State of the
State Address highlighted how great
it is to be in North Dakota as com-
pared to the other 49 states. When
the other states are cutting programs
and increasing taxes, North Dakota
is working to repair our roads,
improve our infrastructure and
improve the business climate.
It should also be mentioned that
discussion is ongoing to lower
income tax rates and property
taxes. Some will say that's because
the good Lord gave us an abundant
energy supply, and I can't argue
With that but remember that
California is the largest producer of
oil in the country and look at the
shape of the state they are in.
Management does have something
to do with the success of North
Dakota.
On Wednesday, we listened to
Chief Justice Vandewalle, who pre-
sented the State of the Judiciary,
and on Thursday, Chairman Tex
Hall presented the State of the
Tribal Nations and state relation-
ship. Both presented the
Legislature with ideas that will
make improvements for our resi-
dents.
At the start of a new session it's
always fun to speculate on the end
results. Here are my speculations:
We will spend lots of money, prop-
erty tax relief will continue with
some increase, income tax rates will
go down for individuals and corpo-
rations, oil and gas counties will
receive a big boost in impact dollars
but with more strings attached,
landowners will get some addition-
al support in their dealings with
developers, and maybe we will
complete our work in 72 days
instead of 79 days.
My legislative reports this year
will be coming from a different per-
spective. As many of you know I
was elected speaker of the house, so
my duties will focus on the daily
operations of the session and I have
no committee assignments. The
plan is that this will allow me more
time to work on the legislation that
is most important regardless of
which committee it is assigned to.
Again this session. Rep.
Kempenich, Sen. Bowman and
myself would like to hear from you
concerning any legislation that you
have concerns about. We can best
be contacted using our e-mail
address, which is the first letter of
our first name followed by our last
name then @nd.gov. We would
welcome the opportunity to have a
forum in each community if any
group is interested in hosting one.
To set up a forum please contact us
as soon as possible to set a date.
Rep. David Drovdal, R-
Arnegard
District 39 Representative
Some thing
I have fun with words. I guess
that's why I like puns so much and
why I like to write poems and sto-
ties.
Numbers, however, are another
thing. Not that I dislike them com-
pletely, but I never was very good
in math. Oh, I can do the basics eas-
ily enough, like adding, subtract-
ing, multiplying and so forth, but I
was never all that interested in
them.
Now my dad liked and was very
good in almost every subject, espe-
cially math. When the calculators
first came out, and my youngest sis-
ter was touting the wonders of how
much easier it was to add, subtract
and so on with a calculator than try-
ing to do it on paper, my dad told
her there was an easier way.
She looked at him with a some-
what surprised and not quite con-
vinced expression on her face, and
asked him what it was.
He said, "Add it up in your mind
as you go." That of course con-
one can Iways 'count' on
Cook' s Corner
By Jane M. Cook
vinced her of her theory as to how
much easier it would be to do it
with a calculator. So Dad chal-
lenged her to test him on it. He
would let her choose any number
she liked, and while she added it on
the calculator, he would, at the
same time, add it in his head. and
they would see who came up with
the correct answer the fastest.
So she took him up on it. For
instance, she would call out a num-
ber - we'll, say 93 - then she'd hit
the number keys on her calculator.
Then she called out something like
62, to which Dad immediately s0id
"155." My sister was still punching
keys. She seemed a little frustrated
that Dad had gotten it so quickly,
and was correct. But she was not
one to give up easily, so she contin-
ued to rattle out numbers, while
Dad continued to give the correct
answer: Of course his chuckling
about it didn't help matters much.
She finally gave in after they had
gone well into the hundreds. She
asked Dad how it was so easy for
him to do that seemingly off the top
of his head. He just answered that it
took a lot of practice and that any-
one could do it if they tried.
I've tried Dad's way, and I've
tried my sister's way. Dad had the
knack; I don't. I've tried writing it
down on paper, as I was taught
when I was going to grade school.
I keep going back to the adding
machine. But even with that, I real-
ly have to watch what I'm doing,
or the numbers won't come out
right.
But I guess that can also happen
with words. For instance, if one's
not careful, your "friend" could
become your "fiend." Hmm. That
sounds like a good title for a story.
And that's something I can pretty
much count on.
There's next to nothing special
about the Earth's orbit around the
sun right now. January, in that
sense, is just another month in the
natural world.
But because we think of this time
as the start of the next page on our
calendars. January can be a great
time to start fresh with some new
personal goals. And medical science
will support you in making some
real changes in your life.
Besides. there's nothing like the
dry residue of old fruitcake on the
kitchen counter to make health-
related resolutions this time of year
seem more appealing. Certainly in
my own case. I know I could use
some changes.
If you're in the mood to address
your fimesg and likely improve your
health in the process, there's a lot of
good news. Medical science shows
that moderate exercise benefits
adults in a whole slew of ways. And
we don't need to pretend we'll ever
be triathletes to benefit a lot from a
bit of reform.
What might you gain from exer-
cise? Research has shown the list is
long. You could help yourself avoid
a whole range of maladies including
diabetes, heart disease, depression
and. of course, obesity. Even if you
already have developed issues in
those areas, research shows you can
improve your lot.
The bottom line is that medical
science shows that while exercise
may not be an actual fountain of
youth, it's one of the most potent
aspect of our daily lives that influ-
ences our health. Some doctors
think it's actually the very most
important part of what we do that
influences longevity.
One modest set of goals for
physical activity comes from the
U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services.
Recommendations for adults state
that adults can improve their health
substantially by two and a half
hours per week of what's called
moderate aerobic activity or one
and a quarter hours of vigorous aer-
obic workouts. The moderate level
of aerobic workouts includes brisk
walking and even ballroom danc-
ing. Vigorous activity can include
jogging, swimming or jumping
rope.
If you're a couch potato or have
health problems, the government
warns you should check with your
doctor before you start a workout
schedule. But, on the other hand. if
you are in good shape and are
already doing what was just men-
tioned, you can get more extensive
health benefits by doing more. You
could aim for five hours a week of
moderate activity or two and a half
hours of vigorous workouts.
Besides just doing more aero-
bics. you should consider adding
some form of weight training twice
a week to what you do. That could
mean going to a gym, but it doesn't
have to. Heavy gardening work and
doing exercises like you used to do
in school (sit-ups and push ups) all
count in this category.
For me. walking and swimming
are easy enough and a real pleasure.
I regularly do both. far more often
than the government's basic stan-
dards. I think that's because there's
something about the mesmerizing
effect of aerobics that appeals to my
peculiar mind.
But weight training is quite
another matter. After all, it hurts! So
that's where I could reform, increas-
ing how often I suffer through the
weight machines at the gym.
There are also those pesky
details like flexibility, where some
of us earn a clear "F." Only real dili-
gence m 2011 is going to help me
reach my toes again.
If you've got kids, you also
could think about their physical
activity levels. Playing outdoors
and doing sports rather than suc-
cumbing to full days spent with
electronics can help set up a lifetime
of healthy habits.
If you think that some structure
to your New Year's resolution
might help you or your kids, you
could check out the President's
Challenge program at
www.presidentschallenge.org. In
just six weeks, if you stay on the fit-
ness wagon that's described, you'll
qualify for the active lifestyle
award. That might give you a great
start on changing habits in the New
Year.
Oh, yes. We can also make some
real changes in our health by eating
right.
Luckily, that will have to be a
subject for another column.
Dr. E. Kirsten Peters, a native of
the rural Northwest, was trained as
a geologist at Princeton and
Harvard.
Medical school falls
hort of mission
Chapter 15-52 of the North
Dakota Century Code states that
"the primary purpose of the univer-
sity of North Dakota school of med-
icine and health sciences is to edu-
cate physicians and other health
professionals and to enhance the
quality of life in North Dakota."
As parochial as this may sound,
the only reason North Dakota start-
ed a medical school was to
"enhance the quality of life" by pro-
ducing doctors who would practice
m North Dakota. Unfortunately,
most of the graduating students are
not staying here. Case in point: of
the 55 students who were graduated
last year, only seven are doing their
residency in North Dakota.
This is a disastrous situation
because students who leave the
state to do their residency seldom
come back. This large outmigration
means that the medical school is
serving the rest of the country more
than it is enhancing the quality of
life in North Dakota.
Before the present legislative
session, the school asked for an
appropriation of $29 million for a
new building so that it could
increase the number of students.
The Board of Higher Education cut
this request to $1.8 million with
instructions to train more doctors
but without any new construction
Before the Board or the
Legislature will approve more con-
struction, the medical school will
have to demonstrate that it can raise
the number of in-state residencies
significantly. And with five times
more applicants than openings, the
schooI is in a strong position to dic-
tate residency requirements, e.g.
more in-state residencies with better
distribution throughout the state.
Instead of begging out-of-state
students to stay in North Dakota, we
should be recruiting and admitting
more students who do not need to
be sold on the North Dakota
lifestyle. We need to make it known
across the state that all qualified stu-
dents - especially those without the
money - chn think of going to med-
ical school and then put up the
scholarships and incentives to make
it happen.
Statistics indicate that medical
students born in North Dakota are at
least 10 times more likely to prac-
tice in North Dakota and students
doing their residency in North
Dakota are hundreds yes, hun-
dreds - of times more likely to stay.
The medical school also has to
deal with a political problem. If it
expects more money for buildings
or programs down the road. it will
need to bring the whole state into its
program planning, development
and implementation. Unless this is
done, western legislators will have
little reason to support construction
money or anything else for a Red
River Valley institution.
The state law provides for a
15-member advisory council but
the council is of little help
because it doesn't represent the
whole state very well. This was
the judgment of Board of Higher
Education Chancellor Bill Goetz
when he proposed the formation
of a new committee to study the
situation. When asked why he
didn't use the existing advisory
council, he said he wanted better
representation from other parts of
the state.
With an old population growing
older. North Dakota is seeing
Medicare and Medicaid grow by
leaps and bounds. The need for doc-
tors throughout North Dakota is
becoming more critical as each year
passes. New strategies to recruit
and keep doctors are sorely needed.
Seven out of 55 tells us that.
Guard deploys to 11 countries in 2010
The year 2010 was another busy
but successful year for the North
Dakota National Guard.
As the Global War on Terrorism
enters its tenth year, our North
Dakota soldiers and airmen contin-
ued to serve in Iraq, Afghanistan
and a dozen other nations across the
globe and here at home.
This past year North Dakota wel-
comed home more than 850 soldiers
and airmen. This total includes
some 650 soldiers that served in
Kosovo and surrounding region.
This historic mission was the largest
North Dakota National Guard
mobilization since the Korean War
era. Led by Brig. Gen. Alan
Dohrmann. our soldiers were part of
a 2.200 multi-national soldier con-
tingent whose mission was main-
taining a safe and secure environ-
ment and providing freedom of
movement for the people in Kosovo
while other soldiers provided high-
tech' surveillance security for coali-
tion forces in Afghanistan and Iraq.
North Dakota aviators in Iraq
logged more than 6,200 safe flight
hours providing critical transporta-
tions in the challenging environ-
ment. Our Happy Hooligan Airmen
in Minot provide security to the
Minot Air Force Base missile fields
setting high standards as the first
National Guard unit to receive a
'ready' status from Air Force Global
Strike Command while our airmen
in Fargo continue to successfully
perform their Unmanned Aerial
Mission,
This past year, North Dakota
Guardsmen deployed to Bosnia.
Democratic Republic of Congo,
Djibouti. Ghana. Haiti, Japan,
Korea. Panama, Qatar, United Arab
Emirates and the United Kingdom.
Here on the home front in 2010.
the North Dakota National Guard
assisted our communities with flood
fighting, primarily in the Red River
Valley. Although Guard assistance
was not as extensive as the state-
wide flooding in 2009 (Guardsmen
on duty for 18 days in 2010 versus
nearly 100 in 2009) we responded
when called to action.
When the April ice storm
destroyed approximately 12.000
power poles, North Dakota National
Guard members partnered with
civilian authorities in locating and
documenting the damage to help
speed the recovery process.
When we welcome a soldier or
airmen home from service around
the world our job is just beginning.
Our focus shifts from getting them
home safely to ensuring a smooth
transition to civilian life through
our carefully planned reintegration
program. Families, employers,
communities" and Guardsmen all
play a vital role this process. We
are committed to providing them
essential services and help access
the veterans' benefits they have
earned. An example of our commit-
ment is the positioning of military
outreach specialists throughout the
state to support and assist service
members. This service has reached
out to nearly 14.000 veterans and
families of all eras and military
branches since its inception in
2009.
Nearly two thirds of the North
Dakota National Guard members
have joined us since the tragic
attacks of Sept. 11. 2001. Today
our strength is at its highest levels
since the early 1990s. The future of
our organization lies ably with these
young leaders.
A key component of our organiza-
tions success is the great support of
our families, employers, veterans and
retirees, each who contribute signifi-
candy to our soldiers' and airmen's
ability to serve and focus on their
missions. We. the North Dakota
National Guard, are truly thankful to
all North Dakotans for your unwa-
vering support and trust for the men
and women who serve you.
We continue to prepare for win-
ter emergency response, plan for
potential spring flooding, train to
fight wildfires across the state, all
the while maintaining our readiness
to respond to our missions over-
seas.
The men and women of the
North Dakota National Guard, as
busy and engaged as we were in
2010, are ready for whatever is
asked of us in 2011.
Our motto and commitment to
the citizens of this 'state is Always
Ready, Always There.
Maj. Gen. Da rid A.
Spm'nczynatyk is the N.D. National
Guard~ adjutant general.
e