politics – Page 5 – Dustin Monke

Everyone has to eat.

That’s the motto southwest North Dakota farmers Jim Kerzman and Bob Kuylen have, and it’s the sentiment they’re taking with them to Washington, D.C., this week as part of the National Farmers Union’s annual fly-in event to lobby members of Congress to support the farm bill.

Sixty-seven North Dakota Farmers Union members are flying into the nation’s capital and Kuylan, who farms wheat and sunflowers near South Heart, said he hopes the delegation can put some faces to the farm bill.

“They like to talk to actual farmers instead of lobbyists,” Kuylen said. “We’ll tell them what’s going on out in the country, instead of someone being paid and curving it their way.”

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Vet — Watford City’s Donald Diederich, left, receives his World War II medals from Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., Tuesday afternoon in the Stark County Courthouse in Dickinson.

Donald Diederich knew he had earned medals in World War II. But he never thought he would see them.

That changed Tuesday afternoon at the Stark County Courthouse when Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., presented the 90-year-old Army veteran from Watford City with five medals, including a bronze star, for his service in the South Pacific during World War II.

“It means a lot. I really didn’t think it would mean that much,” Diederich said. “After so many years, I just kind of forgot about it. I always thought they would come, but I never got them.”

Hoeven said it is important that veterans like Diederich, whom he called a “great American,” are recognized for their sacrifices.

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