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Letters to the Editor

Parks impacted by federal shutdown

Lillian Crook, Bismarck So here we are, November 2025. The National Parks in North Dakota are shut down, including Knife River Indian Villages and Theodore Roosevelt National Park, the only national park in the United States named after a President, whose birthday was in October. No visitor center, no rangers, some restrooms, which we can only hope someone is stocking with toilet paper. 25% of the National Park Service staff have been fired since January 2025. Look it up. I don’t know about you, but I’ve been reading lots of stories about the grand opening of the Theodore ...

Ranchers right with beef checkoff fight

Steve Fallgatter, Driscoll It comes as no surprise that the constitutionality of North Dakota’s Beef Commission Act has landed in court. Ranchers who choose not to pay dues to the Stockmen’s Association have been advising the legislature for a decade or more about their dissatisfaction with the law’s preferential treatment of certain select groups, yet the legislature has ignored them. It would have been so easy to amend and correct the century code, yet here we are, to no one’s surprise. The first mistake out of the gate was to assign oversight and governance of the state ...

Total fealty to Trump ignores North Dakotans

Bob Ostmo, Wahpeton What in the world is wrong with our Congress? The house of representatives has been home collecting their salary for a month. My calls to representative Fedorchak’s office have been met with platitudes of how she values transparency and claims of how she is working for the people of North Dakota. What I see is total fealty to Donald Trump. Our soybean farmers have lost their market. Our rural hospitals are threatened by closure. Our taxpayers have been robbed to fund endless lawsuits by this president. Our universities have been deprived of research ...

Youth, businesses unite to honor veterans

Robyn Stoner, Minot The cadets of the Civil Air Patrol Magic City Composite Squadron have boots on the ground, hanging posters at Minot businesses to promote Wreaths Across America. As I’ve walked alongside them to offer a boost of confidence and clarification when needed, I’ve been deeply moved by the graciousness of our community’s small business owners. These young cadets entered shops nervous to speak and unsure of responses — and left with smiles, uplifted by the kindness of business owners who thanked them for stopping by. I’ve watched these kids grow in confidence ...

Lost discount symptomatic of high taxes

John Schollmeyer, Minot On Oct.7 I lost my bid to recover my 5% tax discount of $407. I was a day late because the post office failed to pick up the mail on Feb.18. The Ward County Commissioners voted 2 to 3 against. If successful I would have given it to the food bank. The $407 is less than 2/10 of one percent of the $250,000 I have paid in taxes in 49 years (adjusted for inflation). Analogy: A man is purchasing $614 in goods at a hardware store and has a coupon for $1 off a bag of fertilizer. The manager looks at the coupon and says he can’t accept it’s a day late. This is ...

Compromise needed on both sides of aisle

Gary Schell, Minot Stop pointing fingers. It’s the fault of Democrats and Republicans. There is such a thing as compromise, step up and be the hero. But with bullies on both sides saying – If you don’t do what I want I’m not talking. Like kindergarten kids. How many times have you compromised with a neighbor, wife, family member or at work? A main problem with Senators and Representatives is they have been in Washington D.C. too long and have hated a person from the other party for years. Any bill brought forward by their enemy is shot down. We the people sent them to ...