KFGO Blog

This story in the Bismarck Tribune outlines the complaints of people who live on Tom O’Leary Golf Course in Bismarck. They are complaining about stray balls that have hit their houses, cars and windows.

These types of stories come up every once in a while.

Question is, do people who buy homes on golf courses have any sort of leverage when it comes to griping about errant shots?

I’m split. I have sympathy because I used to live on a golf course and got some stray balls in my backyard (that hit my garage, deck, etc.). On the other hand … you live on a golf course. What did you expect?

I guess it boils down to how many balls are going into the houses and how dangerous it might be. Is there something that can be done to solve the problem?

Minnesota officially named hockey as its state sport Wednesday.

I brought this up on air yesterday, but will throw it out today on the blog.

What’s the state sport of North Dakota?

I think it’s hunting. Huge, huge thing in NoDak.

Callers to yesterday’s show said curling. Unique, NoDak thrives at it, Sports Illustrated named it as the unofficial state sport awhile back.

Others said golf. Maybe basketball. Maybe fishing.

I’m sticking with hunting.

What do you think?

KFGO news director Paul Jurgens and I talked about this yesterday on the Mike McFeely Show: Women tennis players are being told to stop the shrill, carnal shrieking they utilize when hitting the ball. None other than former great Chris Evert has joined the chorus of complaints about the grunts, yelps and yips that permeate women’s pro tennis nowadays.

Evert says the shrieking is gamesmanship, used to distract opposing players, and it has no place in tennis. Martina Navratilova, a former Evert rival, concurs.

Bunk, I say. Tennis is not like golf, played in stone silence where a yelp or scream could cause a player to whiff. Tennis is played in stadiums that, while quiet, are not mausoleums. Noise is allowed. Seems like the whining is becoming louder than the shrieking itself.

Anyway, here’s a link to YouTube, complete with necessary audio, that covers the topic pretty well. Click here to view it.

A group of well-heeled — or, make that VERY well-heeled — Fargoans are making a pitch to build a Red River diversion around Fargo to the west, in North Dakota. Until now, frankly, all we’ve heard about was a possible diversion through Minnesota — which is just not going to happen. Too expensive, too many political hurdles, too many entities and stakeholders involved.

The North Dakota plan sounds great, as all diversions do. They are the magic bullet, if there is one, for permanent flood protection. Trouble is, as the Army Corps of Engineers is already saying, this plan doesn’t look like it’ll meet the cost-benefit ratio needed to get federal funds. An Army spokesman said a North Dakota diversion would be more expensive than a Minnesota diversion because it cuts across four watersheds.

Anyway, the VERY well-heeled group (and they are all Republicans, I believe, which might raise the question of the political reasons behind making this diversion push public … might there be a former computer software executive who aspires to high office in North Dakota once the current governor leaves office?) has a Web site up and running that is very informative. It lays out the plan for the diversion and the reasoning behind it quite well.

Click here to visit the www.fmfloodcontrol.com web site. They make their case. Sounds good. But is it going to pass the most important test of all — the test of $$$$$$$$?

I upheld the honor of Fargo and North Dakota on Sunday at Oxbow Country Club. Or at least Fargo and North Dakota radio talk-show hosts.

The Row at the ‘Bow went my way as I edged KFAN’s Common Man Dan Cole in an 18-hole cage match. The score will be withheld to protect the innocent, but let’s just say there was not a lot of intensity after about the 10th hole.

Actually, there was never any intensity. It was just a fun day. Common played Fargo Country Club in the morning, then headed for Oxbow. He played the Meadows in Moorhead on Monday morning before doing his show (noon to 3 p.m.) from the Roger Maris Celebrity Golf Tournament at Rose Creek Golf Course.

Common is a golf nut, and a really good guy to boot, so we had a good day. Maybe we can have a rematch at one of the million courses he plays for free in the Twin Cities. He says his favorite is White Bear Yacht Club, a Donald Ross design that’s a gem.

Common, McFeely, Cory and Paul at Oxbow Country Club on Sunday.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has reported the discovery of invasive zebra mussels on one of the Alexandria chain of lakes. Lake L’Homme Dieu is the lake in which the mussel was found. This isn’t good for the quality of the lake. Like another invasive species, Eurasian water milfoil, zebra mussels cause serious problems in the lakes in which they take root. L’Homme Dieu is connected to several other popular lakesn north of Alex like Carlos, Darling and Geneva. Our family had a cabin on Carlos for many years and that’s where I grew up, which is why this sucks.

You can read the story from the Star Tribune by clicking here.

Speaking of Lake Carlos, another interesting story about that lake was in the Alexandria Echo-Press newspaper last week. A diver found antlers of an elk, which is believed to be 1,000 years old or more.

You can read that in the Echo-Press by clicking here.

With the Red River nearing a crest of nearly 28 feet Monday, the third hole at Edgewood GC is under water again. The back nine holes of the course opened last week — the course was completely under water during this spring’s record flood and suffered severe damage — and the Fargo Park District hoped the entire course would be open by July 4. But that is likely not going to happen now.

No. 3 at Edgewood GC this morning. Same old, same old.

A blog post from a couple of weeks offered my opinion on the atmosphere in The Forum newsroom regarding Forum Communications’ purchase of the Grand Forks Herald and the Duluth News-Tribune. The overwhelming belief around Forum Communications is that ForumComm’s purchase of the Herald and DNT has led to the many company-wide layoffs, including 50-odd jobs at the home factory in downtown Fargo. In that blog post, I offered that ForumComm bought the Herald and DNT while they were already losing money. A still-employee of ForumComm sent me this response to that comment:

I was reading the column on FCC and I’m fairly certain that the GF Herald was not losing money before the Forum bought and it is still not losing money. I think the year before the Forum bought the Herald, its profit margin was something like 22%. It has certainly declined since, but the company is still making money. FCC’s problem is all of its debt incurred from buying GFH and DNT — a crisis of equity. As far as I know, the Herald itself isn’t sinking FCC, rather than debt FCC took on from the purchase is sinking it.

I stand corrected. Still, the belief that the ill-timed purchase of the Herald and DNT is accurate.

Check out this link, with golf announcers HAVING NO REGARD FOR HUMAN LIFE …………….!!!!!!!!!!

The North Dakota Board of Higher Ed on Thursday approved 4 percent raises for university presidents in its system. That means NDSU president Joseph Chapman will make $424,000.

Let the wailing and gnashing of teeth begin.

To which I ask: Why?

My take on Chapman’s salary has always been that he is the CEO of a very large corporation. Yes, it’s in the public sector and not the private sector. Big difference. But if you want to attract the top talents and leaders to lead large corporations, you have to shell out the dough. And so Chapman gets a big salary — plus a lot of perks like a new $1 million home.

Ask yourself this: How many CEOs of other large corporations in Fargo and North Dakota are making $424K? I’d bet that’s a smallish salary for a position with as many employees and responsibilities as the president of NDSU.

Don’t mistake, I’m not a Chapman apologist. All that he touches has not turned to gold. He’s been worthy of some criticism and I think I’ve been fair in doling out that criticism over the years.

But any outrage over a $424K salary is misplaced.

The person who should be angry is Robert Kelley, the new president at the University of North Dakota. He’s only making $312K.