By Carleton Borden
Valley City

I would like to state for the record that I am not always the best at recycling, but I have been working hard during the tenure at my church here in Valley City to having recycling bins available at our church for such a purpose, as well as in my own home.
And last year from a gift of my church’s conference – the Northern Plains Conference of the United Church of Christ – our church gave away and sold 200 reusable large and small tote bags reminding people that “In God’s World No One or Thing is Disposable.”
These bags have been a visible sign of what we believe as a denomination; that when God said we were to have dominion over the planet, he meant for us to keep it clean and better for our children, grandchildren, as well as their grandchildren’s grandchildren. It is something that I and my church believe not just now, but for the future.
As I state all that, I became troubled, that at last week’s 73rd annual North Dakota Winter Show, sodas that were on sale for $2.50 had no way for them to be recycled.
The Winter Show had no easily seen recycling containers in or around any of their buildings. Where is that farming commitment for the betterment of the land, if we just use and throw away the smallest and easiest recycled container?
This could have been a high-water moment (pun intended) for us to make note of the importance of being good stewards of what God has given our community in terms of farmland. This was a chance to show the respect of our community and the commitment of this community to help us and encourage our neighbors to be better stewards of the environment.
Would it have been all that difficult for the Winter Show  to have put out a blue bucket and dropped off all those empties at the Valley Recycling center just down the hill from the Winter Show building?
I would like to challenge the Winter Show facility coordinators to remember when we respect and care for the earth, the riches of the harvest can be better enjoyed by all now and for many years to come.
So, please, Winter Show coordinators, please add blue recycling containers to all future events.

By Liam Muirgheasa
Columnist

I don’t know about you, but when I read Captain Marvel’s recent open letter to Barnes County Assistant States Attorney Lee Grossman in the Times-Record on Feb. 24, I was somewhat relieved. For several months now, I thought that we might not have the opportunity to visit once more the dastardly Web site, ever. In other words, I thought that it might have been pitched into the waste bin of ill-begotten lore. It turns out that was needless worry on my part.
As I recall the Web site now, and it is getting a bit foggy with the passage of time, there was a photo of the Captain walking on water. Well, I sort of got the allusion there ... an answer for everyone and an opinion on everything. Maybe he was wearing a white robe and hat as well. I recall it being pointed. However, it never occurred to me that he was being treated in a “racial” manner; I don’t recall any racial epithets cast in his direction as had occurred in the case of the young child cited. There were also rumors that “things” had been said. I don’t know — wasn’t there — in short, don’t know how the Captain earned that particular costume. But being featured in a cartoonish fashion, a caricature if you will, is not something that happens to someone who keeps a private persona; it is far more likely to happen to someone who has always — let’s tone this down a bit — got his gob open. If your life ambition is to go to public meetings and browbeat public servants and city employees, then it should come as no surprise if you wind up in a parody or a cartoon, the object of satire.
America has a long tradition of caricature dating back to the colonies. Ben Franklin was caricatured in a zillion ways. A Web site sponsored by the University of Virginia is particularly instructive, taking the art form back to about 1513. If you are interested, Google “history of political caricature.”
Captain Marvel states that his reputation has been tarnished forever. However, it is noteworthy that he is the only person who keeps the matter in the eye of the public — in repeated letters to the newspaper and confrontational rhetoric at City Commission meetings. Let it go, Captain, fourth-grade recess is over and the bloody noses have all been wiped; and Sister Delvina (rest her soul), Ruler of the Playground, has demanded an end to the mayhem.
On further reflection, though, the Captain does ask a penetrating question, “where are my rights as a Norwegian ... ?” I have given this matter serious consideration. It seems to me there should be some perks. Perhaps discounted lutefisk dinners at the Sons of Norway Hall. Maybe a cut-rate deal on a Norwegian passport. Possibly a free weekend stay (offseason) in Hordaland or Jordane overlooking the fjords. And maybe, if lucky, the right to pay Norwegian property tax.
I know that I, personally, enjoy many rights as an Irishman, a direct descendant of Niall of the Nine Hostages, no less. Eat homemade soda bread, plant potatoes, eat potatoes, eat more potatoes, and oh yeah, drink foul green beer on the Feast of St. Padraig ... maybe march in a parade if I’m lucky. 
Putting all of the above aside, and in the spirit of March, this second most holy month of the year, may I leave you with an old Irish toast —
“May those who love us, love us; and if they don’t love us, may God turn their hearts. And if He can’t turn their hearts, may He turn their ankles so we will know them by their limping.”
Sláinte, my fellow travelers.

By Lee Morris
News editor

The flood outlook might be optimistic for Valley City, but residents still have every reason to prepare for high water. The Sheyenne River is going to rise. How quickly and to what extent remain big questions.
The adage “better safe than sorry” seems appropriate. It’s up to those who live here to not become complacent with this year’s unlikely luck, when so many other parts of the state are all but guaranteed floodwaters. Even in other parts of Barnes County, and further downstream in places such as Lisbon, the expectations of staying dry are not as high. We should not be lulled by luck.
The most recent forecast available, released March 5, puts the chance of major flooding in Valley City at about 35 percent. Previously, the National Weather Service said the Sheyenne’s shot of reaching 17 feet was at 50 percent. The risk of moderate or minor flooding is higher. Yet revised and lowered predictions do not mean the need to plan evaporates. Thirty-five percent is still a lot.
It appears Barnes County and Valley City officials have done well in the task of thinking ahead. Most notably, they met last week to learn how to meld their operations and work together during a possible flood fight. But as Joel Rostberg of the North Dakota League of Cities reminded our area leaders, smaller towns must be kept in mind. Valley City could be faring well when a call for help arrives from Kathryn, where officials this week put the odds of evacuation at 50 percent due to the unstable Clausen Springs Dam.
But so much of being ready rests with residents. There are two things every person can do to get to that point, one tangible and one regarding a state of mind. Both require being proactive. And both require taking time out of the day to turn toward a very real risk of flooding, when it may seem easier to not think about it.
One of the simplest, most basic ways of preparing for a flood is by making an emergency kit. This can save time in a situation of potential panic. Other precautions include making an emergency kit for a vehicle, drawing up an evacuation plan and having a settled place to take your pets. A list of emergency kit items and other flood-planning tips are at www.nd.gov/des/get/flood-preparedness.
The second method of preparation is harder but perhaps more important. That is, maintaining a vigilance while we watch the river rise, whether at a slow or sudden pace. It’s easy to not keep your thoughts turned toward this issue for what will likely be weeks. But it’s necessary to be both mindful and watchful.
It’s too early to say whether rain and warmer temperatures this week have resulted in a rise in the Sheyenne, said Bill Barrett of the National Weather Service on Thursday. But as temperatures climb into the 40s next week, he said there’s a “reasonable chance” the river level will increase, though it’s not known how quickly.
While we hope for the best in a gradual melt, let’s make sure we’re ready for the worst, just in case. That should keep us safe no matter what the river does.

By Steve Browne
Columnist

“We find comfort among those who agree with us, growth among those who don’t.”
– Frank A. Clark, newspaperman

I don’t suppose it would surprise anyone to know that I, like every small-town newspaper columnist, would like to be nationally syndicated.
After all, it’s got to be the best job in journalism, like getting paid to be the pub loudmouth. The only job better is the late Charles Kuralt’s job on “On the Road,” but my wife might have her own opinions about raising the kids in an RV. (Letting me roam around alone on assignment all year probably wouldn’t fly, either. After his death, it was revealed Kuralt had another wife somewhere on the road.)
It’s also no secret that many young journalists want to move into the opinion section as fast as their little legs can carry them through the newsroom.
So, for what it’s worth, here’s my notion of an ideal columnist and how to prepare to be one.
Firstly, get experience. Travel, live in different places, see some of the world. Work at jobs that aren’t journalism and live in places that aren’t Washington. There’s an awful lot of the breed in Washington  who’ve never done this.
I’ve worked in Washington, too. And don’t ever let anybody tell you different, it’s a small town at heart. It’s as provincial as any one-horse town in the Midwest, except they can’t even grow wheat.
Go to the Creators Syndicate Web site and you’ll find two columnists, one on the liberal page, one on the conservative, both just out of college. One started writing a syndicated column while still in college, the other is billed as “one of the youngest columnists in the nation.”
That is not a recommendation to my mind. Yes, both are highly intelligent and no doubt had stellar academic careers, but what the heck have then seen of life?
Yeah, those grapes are awfully sour. But the point remains.
Study on your own: history, logic, rhetoric, statistics.
History is absolutely necessary to taking a long view and cultivating a sense of perspective. It’s the next best thing to experience.
Logic teaches you what an argument is: a set of statements, the last of which (the conclusion) you claim must follow from the others. Just as important, it teaches you what an argument isn’t: attacks on the arguer or his motives, appeals to authority or pity, unfounded generalizations, etc.
Rhetoric is the art of turning a persuasive phrase. You have to keep the readers’ attention, especially if you’re going to be telling them something they’d rather not hear, so your writing has to keep them entertained. And it lets you know what folks are up to when they say fine-sounding things that don’t make sense.
Statistics: an awful lot of arguments are made – and an awful lot of lies told – through statistics. Studying stats gives you a great appreciation for that old saw, “Figures don’t lie, but liars can figure.”
Regularly make it a point to read points of view you don’t agree with. I have a set of bookmark folders on my computer labeled: right wing, left wing, libertarian, anarchist, feminist, specific issue sites, etc. Of course, I spend more time in some than others – but I regularly make a point to go to sites I ordinarily wouldn’t.
How can you argue for a position if you don’t know what the argument against it is?
Read other columnists. This gives you a sense of what issues people care about and keeps you from reinventing the wheel. When there’s an issue I want to write about, I see what columnists I respect are writing about it. Then I do something different.
Try to avoid preaching to the choir; think of your audience as people who disagree with you at least some of the time. Disagreeing is what free people do.
And, most of all, you must have intellectual courage.
Most people have physical courage. But how many people have the courage to calmly consider ideas that sadden them, scare them or make them profoundly uncomfortable?
How many times have you examined arguments and evidence, and come to a conclusion that you did not like and wished were not true? How often do you consider that you may be wrong? How often have you decided you simply did not know the truth and had to live with uncertainty?
That’s intellectual courage, and it’s rare.
That’s my plan. If I follow it, will it make me a famous nationally syndicated columnist?
I don’t know. I do know it’ll make me the columnist, and the man, I want to be.