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April 1 , 2021
Golden valley News.
OPINION NEWS
Legislature eyeing $8 billion Legacy Fund Discussin
N.D.
After 10 years of mustering the
courage to tackle spending the $8
billion Legacy Fund, the present
Legislature has blossomed with
more ideas than dandelions in an un—
kempt cemetery.
Legislators and committees have
been dreaming about the day this
“fund could be touched to grow North
‘Dakota. It seems the day has arrived.
The dialogue went public in J an-
,uary when Insurance Commissioner
'Jon Godfread started talking about
:using the fund for investing. Not to
be outdone by a member of the ex-
ecutive branch, legislators poured in
more bills relating to the Legacy
‘Fund than were introduced in any
‘previous session.
Godfread proposed a broad brush.
“Investments may be with start-
ups or technology companies, as,
well as infrastructure projects, but
also other types of businesses, large
~or small.”
‘ Most of the proposals focus on
business investment. But according
to Forum newsperson Jeremy Tur-
ley: “Leaders from both parties say
they want to show residents this leg-
islative session that the fund is being
put toward quality-of-life improve—
ments." A
' It's a vague but worthy goal.
Launched June 30, 2012, the
Legacy Fund is funded with a diver-
sion of 30% of the oil and gas ex-
traction taxes. According to the state
Constitution, the Legislature can
spend the interest but it takes two-
Matters
By Lloyd Omdahl
thirds of both houses to cut into the
principal.
The idea of investing in North
Dakota warrants support but we
need to be realistic about the conse-
quences. First, we have to expect a
lower return on investments than
would be earned if the State Invest-
ment Board continued to follow its
present investment pattern.
According to a publication of the
State Investment Board, the “Legacy
Fund investment returns exceeded
14.3% in the last half of 2020 and
9.25% per annum for the five years
ended 12/31/2020.”
That record is quite remarkable.
We should expect our in-state in—
vestment earnings to decline because
the SIB has investment opportunities
all over the United States and the
world.
If investment opportunities in
North Dakota were as lucrative as
out-of—state investments we would
see more out—of-state money coming
into North Dakota. We will lose on
investment earnings but we should
experience economic growth to off—
set these losses.
Then there is the hazard found in
our political culture. It is difficult to
get a handle on such an abstract term
as “political culture” but it can be de-
fined as the way North Dakota con-
ducts its public affairs.
We are a small state with intimate
politics. By politics I do not mean
partisan politics but the use of influ-
ence. In a small government, much
is done through personal relation—
ships. So the question is: Do we have
the discipline to invest with sound
business judgment or will chunks of
money be invested in response to po—
litical influence?
We may start out pure but over
-years procedures and institutions
lose the original Vision. Take the
North Dakota Hall of Fame in the
Capitol.
When the North Dakota Hall of
Fame was created in the 1960s, the
plan was to recognize North
Dakotans who rose to prominence
nationally. But an astute observer
would question the national promi-
nence of some of the later additions.
More likely than not, political influ-
ence shaped some of these choices.
In a late amendment to a bill, Sen.
Rich Wardner, R—Dickinson, pro-
posed that legislation include $60
million for building technical educa-
tion centers. This suggestion gets to
the quality-of-life issue because it
will train and retrain North Dakota
men and women for careers that will
give their lives new quality.
Wardner’s technical education
centers should be broadened to in-
clude former prisoners and those
who become unemployed because
they lack skills for the new economy.
Patient knowswhen something is wrong
The patient knew something was
wrong. After appointments with sev-
eral specialists, multiple scans, and
tests, she was given a diagnosis. Still,
she felt certain semething was not
-' right. I sat down with her and lis-
‘ tened. We repeated a test she had a
year prior, and this time the test gar-
nered a different result. There was a
tumor growing. She listened to her
gut, she persisted and with an accu-
rate diagnosis she got the medical
care she needed.
Usually, it does not help to repeat
a medical test. Nine times out of ten
a patient, you get that feeling that
something is amiss, seek out answers
and find someone who will listen.
That does not mean you need every
possible test. Tests are costly. They
are only a tool and using the wrong
tool can cause more harm than good.
Physicians are adeptly trained in
the application of the tools of medi—
cine. Throughout college, four years
of medical school and another three
or more years of residency training,
zyv'sa'li
Dear Savvy Senior,
‘ just turned 60 and would like to
3 find out the best way to go about locat-
t; ing senior discounts.
Looking to Save
F1 ' 4
Dear Looking,
.i One of the best, yet underutilized
l? perks of growing older in the United
:2 States is the many discounts that are
32 available to older adults. I
I; There are literally thousands of dis-
I: counts on a wide variety of products
:; and services including restaurants, gro—
;: cery stores, travel and lodging, enter—
:: tainment, retail and apparel, health and
:; beauty, automotive services and much
1: more. These discounts — typically rang—
} ing between 5 and 25 percent off — can
‘32 add up to save you hundreds of dollars
if each year.
‘ So, if you don’t mind admitting
53 your age, here are some tips and tools
3‘ to help you find the discounts you may
3: be eligible for.
I; Ask!
The first thing to know is that most
-. businesses don’t advertise them, but
1: many give senior discounts just for the
if asking, so don’t be shy.
You also need to know that while
:2 some discounts are available as soon as
you turn 50, most don’t kick in until
1 you turn 55, 60, 62 or 65.
Search Online
Because senior discounts frequently
change and can vary depending on
where you live and the time of the year,
the intemet is the easiest way to locate
them.
Agood place to start is at TheSe-
niorList.com (click on the “Senior Dis-
counts” tab), which provides a large list
of discounts in categories, i.e., restau-
rant dining, grocery stores, retail stores,
prescription medications, travel dis—
counts and more.
You can also search for discounts
by provider. Go to a search engine like
Google and Yahoo and type in the busi—
ness or organization you’re curious
about, followed by “senior discount” or
“senior discount tickets.”
If you use a smartphone, there are
By Dr. Antlrcu lillxnortli
an MD. or D.O. invests over 10,000
to 15,000 clinical hours while leam-
ing the art of medicine. Ideally, as
physicians gain experience and con—
fidence, we learn to discern when a
. . test is needed, and how to avoid an
the result is the same. However, 1f as , r ' w .- r ‘
unnecessary test.
Most importantly, a well-trained
physician learns that listening to the
patient history is a more powerful
tool than any test. The history is the
story of the patient’s current and past
symptoms as told by the patient. It
does not come from the chart, is not
in a textbook, and cannot be deter-
mined by a blood test or CT scan. To
obtain it, a physician must listen.
Unfortunately, physicians often
interrupt a patient within the first 10
By Jim Miller
also apps you can use like the “Senior
Discounts & Coupons” app (available
on the App Store and Google Play),
which categorizes discounts by age and
type.
Join a Club
Another good avenue to senior dis-
counts is through membership organi-
zations like AARP, which offers its
members age 50 and older a wide vari-
ety of discounts through affiliate busi—
nesses (see AARPdiscounts.com).
If, however, you don’t like or agree
with AARP, there are other organiza-
tions you can join that also provide dis—
counts like the American Seniors
Association (AmericanSeniors.org),
the American Automobile Association
(AAA.com), or for retired federal
workers, the National Active and Re—
tired Federal Employees Association
(NARFE.org).
Types of Discounts
Here’s an abbreviated rundown of
some of the different types of discounts
you can expect to find.
Restaurants: Senior discounts are
common at restaurants and fast—food
establishments — like Applebee’s,
Arby’s, Burger King, Chili’s, Denny’s
and IHOP - ranging from free/dis-
counted drinks, to discounts off your
total order.
Retailers: Many thrift stores like
Goodwill and Salvation Army, and cer-
tain retailers like TJ Maxx, Banana Re-
public, Kohl’s, Michaels, Ross and
Walgreens stores offer a break to sen-
iors on certain days of the week.
Grocery stores: Many locally
owned grocery stores offer senior dis—
count programs, as do some chains like
BI—LO, Piggly-Wiggly, Fry’s Food
Stores, New Seasons, Fred Meyer, and
Hy-Vee, which offer discounts on cer—
tain days of theweek, but they vary by
to 15 seconds of the visit. Pressures
from time, from documentation,
from insurance companies, and from
the next patient that is waiting can
contribute to the detriment of the in—
terview. However, with careful lis-
tening and guidance from the
physician, the patient will frequently
provide all that is needed to reach an
accurate diagnosis.
We can all learn more by listen-
ing. Whether listening to our bodies,
our family, our friends, or even our
adversaries, it is time well spent.
When we take the time to listen, we
are one step closer to the truth. You’ll
feel it in your gut.
(Dr. Ellsworth is part of The
Prairie Doc® team of physicians and
currently practices family medicine
in Brookings, South Dakota. For free
and easy access to the entire Prairie
Doc® library, visit
www.prairiedoc.org and follow
Prairie Doc® on Facebook featuring
On Call with the Prairie Doc® a
medical Q&A show streamed most
Thursdays at 7 pm. Central.)
How to search for senior discounts
location.
Travel: American, United and
Southwest Airlines provide limited
senior fares in the US. to passengers
65 and older, while British Airlines of—
fers AARP members discounts of up to
$200. Amtrak provides a 15 percent
discount to travelers over 62. Most car
rental companies give discounts to 50—
plus customers or those who belong to
organizations like AARP. Royal
Caribbean, Norwegian, Celebrity and
Carnival cruise lines offer discount
rates to cruisers 55 and over. And, most
hotels offer senior discounts, usually
ranging from 10 to 20 percent.
Entertainment: Most movie the-
aters, museums, golf courses, ski
slopes and other public entertainment
venues provide reduced admission to
seniors over 60 or 65.And the National
Park Service offers a lifetime senior
' pass for those 62 and older for $80 (see
nps.gov/planyourvisit/passes htm).
Send your senior questions to:
Sawy Senior, PO. Box 5443, Norman,
OK 73070, or visit SavvySeniororg.
Jim Miller is a contributor to the NBC
Today show and author of “The Savvy
Senior” book.
The introduction of HR. 51, a bill
to make Washington, DC, the Slst
state — the “Washington, Douglas
Commonwealt ” — would grant its
700,000 residents the same rights en-
joyed by Americans in every other
state — full voting representation in
Congress.
This historic measure has trig—
gered intense political and partisan
controversy because, if enacted, the
likely result would be the election of
representatives who are Democratic,
black and urban in their orientation.
Make no pretense about what is at
stake for the balance of power on
Capitol Hill. The election of two
Democratic senators would tip the
balance of power in Washington
where many, and perhaps most, de-
cisions are grounded in political and
party considerations. That is why this
proposal, which plumbs the depths of
the very foundational issues that ig-
nited the American Revolution, re-
quires members of Congress to
summon their better angels and ad-
dress the fundamental question of
fairness.
Thomas Paine, among other
hyper patriots who articulated the
grand cause of revolution against
England, famously declared, “No
taxation without representation.” The
rationale behind the rallying cry of
the revolution was, to the colonists,
a matter of fundamental fairness:
They should not be required to pay
taxes to England without the right to
elect representatives to Parliament.
Imagine circumstances in our
time in which North Dakota resi-
dents would be forced to pay their
share of taxes, demonstrate their
patriotism and defense of country
by serving in war, work to build and
sustain their communities and, in
general, bear the obligations and
duties of citizenship, all the while
denied the right to vote for mem—
bers of the House and Senate.
Would they hear the' voice of
Thomas Paine? Would they wonder
why they had been stripped of their
fundamental right to hold govern-
rl .
ment accountable and, even more
fundamentally, the right consent to
government that, in reality, is why
citizens feel obliged to obey the law
in the first place? James Wilson,
second in importance only to James
Madison as an architect of our Con-
stitution, expressed the View that
the binding power ‘of law flowed
from the continuous assent of the
subjects of law; the view “that the
only reason why a free and inde-
pendent man was bound by human
laws was this — that he bound him-
self.”
The freedom—loving, independent
citizens of North Dakota could
hardly contemplate life under such
circumstances. Yet, this is the plight
of freedom-loving citizens in Wash-
ington, D.C. all 712,000 of them,
more than the number of Americans
who live in Wyoming, Vermont and
Alaska, and comparable to the num-
ber of people who live in North
Dakota and South Dakota.
Partisanship has its place in the
life of American politics, to be sure,
but there are moments when it must
yield to the greater demands of lead—
ership and the principles of states-
manship. The creation of the
Douglas Commonwealth, the 51st
state, is such a moment, unless we
are to surrender ourselves to self-
serving and arbitrary interests that
are foreign to the cause of republi-
canism.
Constitutional concerns and ob-
jections to the measure, grounded in
the Admissions Clause, the District
and Federal Enclaves Clause and the
23rd Amendment, may be ade-
quately addressed by resort to provi-
sions in the text of the Constitution.
The Admissions Clause, Article
Saturday, 3rd
i «. V, at can. by (began-age
PREORDER 0R FAMOUS EASTER BREAD BY
CALLING fill-87245282
David Adler, The Alturas institute
David Adler answers your Constitution questions.
Send them to this newspaper.
The freedom-lov-
ing, independent
citizens of North
Dakota could hardly
contemplate life
under such circum-
stances.
IV, Section 3, authorizes Congress to
admit new states into the Union. This
provision vests Congress with broad
discretion and does not specify a pro-
cedure for granting statehood. Con-
gressional methods for admitting
states have varied considerably. In
addition, there have been no signifi-
cant challenges to congressional acts
granting statehood, and the Supreme
Court has said that the judiciary may
generally not review the political ac—
tions of the political departments.
The only significant prerequisite
in the Admissions Clause is that
states must adopt a constitution to
comply with the Article IV “guaran-
tee to every State in this Union a Re—
publican Form of Government.”
There is an explicit textual limitation
regarding the admission of a state,
that no new state may be formed
within the jurisdiction of another
state, but that does not apply to HR
5 1 .
The District and Federal Enclaves
Clause, found in Article 1, section 8,
clause 17, provides that Congress has
“exclusive” legislative authority‘and
plenary power, the courts have told
us, over the enclaves that it has cre-
ated, including the District of Co-
lumbia, so long as it does not exceed
10 miles square. There is no explicit
provision requiring Congress to
maintain a minimum size for the Dis-
trict of Columbia and, in fact, Con-
gress has-on various occasions acted,
with the approval of the Supreme
Court, to reduce the size of the dis-
trict. While it is true that the framers
of the Constitution wanted Congress
to establish a federal district, it is
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g fundamental fairness:
V statehood for Washington, DC.
clear that they wanted Congress to
determine the appropriate size and
place of the district. L
Some have argued that granting
statehood to DC. might violate the
23rd Amendment (1961), which
grants the district three electoral
votes. The fact that HR 51 will
greatly reduce the size and popula-
tion of the district, essentially con-
fining it to the White House, the
Capitol Building and a few other
buildings, is of no moment since the
Enclaves Clause requires no mini-
mum size for the district. The newly-
minted Commonwealth will exercise
the three electoral votes previously
exercised by the district. The factual
circumstances inherent in the cre-
ation of the new state and the reduc—
tion of the size of the district, leaving
only a few residents with voting
rights, including the president, have
essentially rendered the 23rd
Amendment a dead letter. But there
is nothing unconstitutional in the act
of exercising plenary congressional
power to change the size of district,
or in creating a new state, and thus
nothing unconstitutional in cutting
the ground from beneath the 23rd
Amendment. In fact, HR 51 will re-
peal the statute — 3 U.S.C. section
21 — that provides for the district’s
participation in federal elections,
leaving it without appointed Elec—
tors. To tidy up matters, the measure
provides expedited procedures for re-
pealing the 23rd Amendment.
Throughout American history,
congressional leaders have recog-
nized the need to expand voting rep—
resentation in order to satisfy the
Spirit of 1776, and fulfill the prem-
ise and promise of our democracy.
(The extension of equal rights to citi—
zens in Washington, DC, will carry
on the best of America’s traditions —
the commitment to fundamental fair-
ness.
Adler is president of The Alturas
Institute, created to advance Ameri-
can Democracy through promotion
of the Constitution, civic education,
equal protection and gender equality.
‘ Send qUestifons about‘the‘C‘o‘n'sti—
tution to Dr. Adler at NDWTPCol—
umn@gmail.com and he will attempt
to answer them in subsequent
columns.
This column is provided by the
North Dakota Newspaper Associa—
tion and Humanities North Dakota.
PllBlIli
TRANSPORTATIIIH
Van or Bus Service
Billings County
Golden Valley County
Distance of 160 Miles
CALL: 701 -872-3836
Our board meets at 9:30 am,
first Tuesday of each month at
22 S. Central Ave., Beach. ‘
The public is invited!
Margery McCanna‘ Jennison
died in 2010 at the age of 82.
In 2020, she gave WalMart gift cards
to disadvantaged children
for Christmas.
Margery left a gift in her will to provide resources for
communities in Larimore and the surrounding area. The
fund she created at the North Dakota Community
Foundation gives out thousands of dollars in grants for
projects in this area ever ear.
Her last gift will last forever.
What will YOUR Legach be?
Call John Heinen of the North Dakota Community Foundation at
701—590—4614 for a free. confidential, no obligation conversation
about the iegacy you would like to leave m your hometown. We
have helped hundreds of North Dakotans. just like Margery.
create their own unique plan and improve the lives of future
generations in their community forever:
www.NDCF.net