Robin Reynolds owns a small business in Hebron, a southwest North Dakota town along Highway 10 about 2 miles off of Interstate 94.
Like so many other small towns in the state, Hebron has seen busier times.
“When the interstate came in, these small towns emptied out,” Reynolds said.
Continue reading “‘A different route’: Strategic plan in place for state scenic byways”
One of the most interesting — and mildly infuriating — moments of my wife and I’s recent trip to New York was our visit to the 9/11 Memorial.
First, if you haven’t been to New York, understand that there are a lot of tourists there. And it’s not just Americans. People from all over the world visit the city every day, particularly in the summer. New York, especially Times Square, is very much the proverbial melting pot it’s made out to be, and that extends to the tourists. You can be anywhere in the city and you wouldn’t be able to tell if the person next to you was from North Dakota or Germany, Long Island or Italy.
The only place where we noticed a stark difference between American and foreign tourists was the 9/11 Memorial at Ground Zero, which we visited along with thousands of others the Sunday before Labor Day.
Continue reading “9/11 Memorial both breathtaking, infuriating”
After getting married in June, Sarah and I knew we weren’t going to be able to take a honeymoon immediately after the wedding. She didn’t have enough vacation time saved up to do anything worthwhile and the newspaper wasn’t in a place where its editor could be gone for two weeks.
So we waited and debated our options. Did we want to go big or small? Would we go tropical or touristy? I told her I was neither rich enough nor handsome enough to spend my time just sitting on a beach without a shirt. As a redhead, she has her own misgivings of spending all day in the sun, so a trip to the tropics was instantly nixed. Neither of us also didn’t want to go anywhere we had already been, which seemed like nearly everywhere.
After debating on trips to both the East and West Coasts for months, we finally decided on a five-day vacation to New York City over the Labor Day weekend. It was one place where neither of us had been and somewhere we both desperately wanted to experience. Continue reading “NYC honeymoon an unforgettable experience”
WATFORD CITY — School enrollment in North Dakota’s fastest-growing small town has increased by 19 percent since May.
Enrollment in the McKenzie County School District, based in Watford City, increased by 255 students since the end of the 2013-14 school year, Superintendent Steve Holen said Wednesday.
“We’re doing as best we can,” Holen said.
Continue reading “Watford City’s student count up by 19 percent”
Last week, one of my work colleague’s struck up a conversation with a Dickinson newcomer who had recently moved here from Idaho.
The man said he had left an economically depressed area but was doing well here. Still, he had no intention of bringing his family to Dickinson so that he could both work and live here. Why not? It was economically infeasible for him to do so. He was making good money but not enough to find an affordable living situation to make the move work.
So, here the man stays, working hard away from his family and sending most of the money he earns in North Dakota back to his real home. Like so many others, he’s not much more than a visitor to our city and state.
This man’s story shows a reality of what’s really happening in Dickinson and western North Dakota.
Continue reading “Dickinson needs a longterm population solution”
Dustin Monke 