Month: April 2014

Gone too soon, but always remembered

I sat near the back of St. Mary’s Catholic Church in New England on Wednesday morning.

Like most people in the church, I was somewhere that only a few days earlier I never thought I would have to be, honoring a man I never imagined we would lose so young.

Forty-five minutes before the funeral was set to begin, there wasn’t a seat left. I looked around and saw people crowding into the back of the church and squeezing into pews. I patted my hand on the shoulder of one of my oldest friends and said, “Look around.”

We didn’t know what to say. I wanted to smile, knowing this man had touched the lives of so many people, but couldn’t muster one.

Continue reading “Gone too soon, but always remembered”

Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library once-in-generation opportunity for North Dakota

You can visit the George W. Bush Presidential Library at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. It only costs $7 to get into both the Bill Clinton library in Little Rock, Ark., and the Gerald Ford library in Ann Arbor, Mich.

These presidents each had their faults, yet they still have libraries to honor them and serve as historical research sites.

Somehow, Theodore Roosevelt — a man whose face is on Mount Rushmore and is considered one of our greatest leaders — is among the American presidents without a library.

The North Dakota Legislature has tasked Dickinson State University with changing that.

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A place for Teddy: Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library plans taking shape

Dickinson could one day be home to a library for one of the most revered presidents in American history.

Dickinson State University and one of the country’s top museum planning firms, at the behest of the North Dakota Legislature, are in the early stages of designing a concept for a Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library to be built in the city — likely on the university’s campus. Planners envision a facility that would be as nationally renowned as any other presidential library.

“I think this is huge for all of North Dakota,” DSU President D.C. Coston said. “A presidential library — as it’s been discussed here — has huge national and, in many cases, international impact.”

Continue reading “A place for Teddy: Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library plans taking shape”

Stuck in winter: March ends with blizzard, dumping nearly a foot of snow in southwest ND

Two unidentified men work to get a vehicle out of the snow-covered Econofoods parking lot in north Dickinson after it got stuck Monday morning. Authorities said they responded to multiple accidents and cars stuck in snow following the blizzard that hit Sunday night and Monday morning.

March went out like a lion Monday in southwest North Dakota.

An early spring blizzard brought life to a crawl much of the day after the area was slammed with nearly a foot of heavy, wet snow and high winds late Sunday night and Monday morning. The snow fell on top of slush and icy roads created by Sunday afternoon rainfall and was later kicked up by wind gusts before settling down early in the afternoon.

The storm caused multiple accidents and calls for stuck vehicles, authorities said.

Continue reading “Stuck in winter: March ends with blizzard, dumping nearly a foot of snow in southwest ND”