Tag: Dickinson

51 below doesn’t hinder western ND much

Clay Cosler, left, and Randy Paulson of Two Brothers Moving Co. in Dickinson help move a resident into the Hawks Point senior living community on Monday, Jan. 6, 2014.

Brutally cold temperatures appears to be on the way out of western North Dakota after wind chills in Dickinson dropped to as much as 51-below zero on Sunday and lingered into Monday afternoon with temperatures as low as 18 below in the morning.

Despite the cold temperatures and wind chills that grabbed national attention, most workers soldiered on outside as usual throughout the area with the exception of area schools cautiously canceling Monday classes based almost entirely on potential safety hazards posed to children because of the cold.

“It sounds like a lot of people did take the right precautions — layered up, covered exposed skin,” said Tony Merriman, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Bismarck. “We have ways to combat the wind chill. It’s just not fun.”

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Constructive homecoming: Boom helps Dickinson native return home, coordinate major projects

Marc Mellmer, an operations coordinator for JE Dunn Construction in Dickinson, stands on the outside of the St. Joseph’s Hospital construction site. Mellmer, a Dickinson native, has climbed the ladder with JE Dunn is now part of the management team in charge of more than $250 million worth of construction projects in western North Dakota.

At just 29 years old, Dickinson native Marc Mellmer has found himself at the forefront of western North Dakota’s construction boom.

As an operations coordinator for JE Dunn Construction, Mellmer is responsible for building the new St. Joseph’s Hospital in Dickinson and numerous other infrastructure projects. All told, Mellmer estimates he and his management team will oversee about $250 million in vertical construction in western North Dakota over the next three years.

“My goal is not to leave,” Mellmer said with a smile. “I don’t plan on moving JE Dunn out of here ever — if I had it my way.”

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Love it or hate it, Black Friday brings ’em out

A look at the Walmart Black Friday crowd.

On Thanksgiving night — or Gray Thursday, if you want to call it that — crowds of shoppers gathered inside of Walmart awaiting the proverbial 6 p.m. starting bell that allowed them to buy discounted items such as TVs, iPads, video games, vacuums and even Tupperware.

Yes, Tupperware. But to be fair, at less than $7 for 30 items, any 1950s housewife will tell you it was a steal of a deal. And any 2013 gamer will say you’re crazy if you’re not in line for $30 copies of Call of Duty or Grand Theft Auto V.

Love it or hate it, Thanksgiving and Black Friday sales sure do have a way of bringing out customers.

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Shoppers Holiday: Dickinson store owners, managers prepare for Thanksgiving, Black Friday rush

Sara Spradley puts a tool set on a rack at Newby’s Ace Hardware on Wednesday in preparation for the store’s early morning opening on Friday.

Lenny Johnson calls the sound similar to a “stampede of horses.”

The co-owner of Starboard, an apparel store in the Prairie Hills Mall, has been a part of three Black Friday doorbuster sales pushes. Each one has been more interesting than the last, he said, as the mall doors open and customers flood in — some of them running — toward stores looking for deals.

“It is absolutely the craziest thing you will ever see,” Johnson said. “You can literally hear the feet.”

Dickinson’s population has practically doubled in the past five years and many who work in retail businesses said sales have improved during that span.

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No-Shave November itchy, but rewarding

What absolute gross looks like in the heart of winter.

When our publisher, Harvey Brock, asked me if I’d ever heard of No-Shave November and Movember, I laughed and told him of course I had as I consider myself at least somewhat tuned into trends.

Then he asked if I’d ever tried it.

As a guy who had never gone past the so-called “sexy stubble” stage of facial hair, I told him I never had. It’s partially because I always had a job where keeping a clean look was necessary and also because I never felt I could actually grow enough hair on my face for it to look decent.

Maybe I wasn’t so trendy after all.

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