November 2015 – Page 3

Disgust in Bowman County, Baker over Keystone XL rejection

Pipes to be used in the Keystone XL pipeline sit in a railyard near Gascoyne, about 65 miles southwest of Dickinson, in this file photo from 2013. (Dustin Monke / File / The Dickinson Press)

SCRANTON, N.D. — Ken Steiner looks out the window of his house and sees thousands of pipes sitting in a railyard.

Today, the Bowman County Commissioner learned those pipes aren’t going anywhere soon.

As much as 600 miles of 36-diameter metal pipe intended for use in the Keystone XL oil pipeline project will likely sit unused and in stacks near the tiny southwest North Dakota town of Gascoyne–about 65 miles southwest of Dickinson–after President Barack Obama announced he was rejecting the 1,179-mile pipeline project proposed by TransCanada Corp.

Keystone XL’s rejection comes more than 2,600 days after it was proposed in 2008 and more than three years since the pipes began being stored in eastern Bowman County.

“Everybody has been wondering what’s going on,” Steiner said. “… It puts a bad taste in everybody’s mouth because people think it should have been done a long time ago. I don’t see that one person should have the authority to OK that. It don’t seem right to me.”

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Meet your neighbors, don’t hide from them

How well do you know your neighbor? Do you even know your neighbor? What’s their name? What do they do?

About 10 days before Halloween, we had a story on our front page about how some people’s house decorations for the holiday had been riling up their neighbors. One woman said she believed her neighbors were going too far with such items as a mannequin hanging off the roof of their house from a noose.

Others brought up the fake “dead” baby dolls in another yard. The concerned parties expressed their frustrations to us and others via social media before they even took the time to talk to their actual neighbors about the problem they had with the decorations.

That’s a bigger problem than someone hanging a mannequin off their roof as a gag.
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Picking next mayor a process: Dickinson residents have 15 days to form petition for special election

At an open house honoring Dennis Johnson’s time as mayor of Dickinson on Thursday, a man walked up to City Commissioner Gene Jackson and said, “Well hello, Mr. Mayor.”

Jackson quickly corrected the man.

Though the Dickinson City Commission’s vice president will serve as acting commission president for Monday night’s regular commission meeting, there are a few steps the city must take before Dickinson officially names its next mayor.

“The clock starts ticking” today, said City Administrator Shawn Kessel.
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