Community

Whoever said “rain is a good thing” wasn’t referencing late December rain in North Dakota. Christmas Day rain blanketed southeastern North Dakota in a sheet of ice, which caused major damage to the electric system and left some North Dakotans without power for 11 days.

Electric cooperatives described it as “the worst ice storm since 1997.” Dakota Valley and Cass County electric cooperatives were hit hardest by the storm, while KEM, Mor-Gran-Sou, Nodak and Northern Plains electric cooperative members also experienced outages.

Eamon Alido lifts the canola plants from a tray, enthusiastically explaining hydroponics as a technique of growing plants using a water-based nutrient solution rather than soil.

In the music room, Mikaela Fattorini ripples her fingers over the piano keys, then settles into singing “Let It Be” to the heavens.

While Alido and Fattorini ventured from a world away to teach in the rural community of Mott, science and music know no boundaries.

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Pat Traynor believes he lives in “the most generous part of the planet.” Since 2008, he has witnessed hundreds of thousands of generous donors give $165 million to more than 500 local charities in primarily North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota.

The gym is empty, though not for long. Soon, fans of basketball will fill the stands. But not before Catherine Howard, a Spirit Lake tribal elder, performs a ceremonial smudging of the Four Winds Community School gym.

“Beat the peak” has become a unified message among electric cooperatives as the demand for electricity grows. This message encourages everyone to be mindful of their energy use during “peak demand” periods, or the times of the day when people are using the most electricity. Why is it so important? It can save you money, reduce your electric cooperative’s power cost (the largest expense your co-op has) and contribute to a better electric grid.

An interconnected grid

Each year, 24% of weather-related vehicle crashes occur on snowy, slushy or icy pavement and 15% happen during snowfall or sleet, the Federal Highway Administration reports. North Dakotans can help mitigate risks posed by severe weather by following these winter driving best practices.

Marlo Anderson is living proof there’s reason to celebrate every day. As founder of the National Day Calendar – the official, authoritative source for fun, unusual and unique national days – Anderson has built a wildly popular national brand around celebration.

Anderson’s curiosity popped in 2013, as he searched for information on the internet about the national day dedicated to his favorite snack – popcorn (the movie-theater buttered kind, preferably).

A farm boy from Ryder – Growing up on a small family farm, Dale never dreamed of a career off the farm. “Farming was in my heart and that is truly what I wanted to do,” he says. But interest rates were rising in the 1970s and when some neighboring land came for sale at auction, Dale determined his future wasn’t on the farm. “During the oral bidding process, I could not see a path forward, and we let the land go,” he says.

A product of Cass County – Marshal Albright is a homegrown product of Cass County, hailing from Lynchburg, about 30 miles southwest of Fargo. He started his career with his “hometown” electric co-op in 1986, when he was hired as a load management technician. In the late 1980s, electric heat was the go-to system, and Marshal programmed ripple controls (an inspection and maintenance program for load control receivers) and installed new meters for residential off-peak heating systems.