82SiouxGuy

The term may have come from the old days when the muscle for gangs were often called gorillas. They were called that because they were large, well-muscled and not as smart as the guys that were running the gangs.

Do you mean when he said "Look at that little monkey run" or something similar to that? Not exactly the same thing. Howard was talking about a specific player, who was black. He had used the term before on the air without getting into trouble. Knuckle dragging is associated most closely with people of low intelligence who are crude and depend on physical intimidation. The term isn't associated with a person of color. The way it was used was referring to the TEAM, not to a specific person. The team has a mix of different races. Therefore it would be hard to use the term in a racist way since he was talking about the TEAM made up of different races, not an individual of a specific color. But way to go, trying to take the conversation down to a new low by injecting the race card.

GFG is part of US Foods. They still use the GFG Foodservice name as a division of US Foods, although they are trying to stress the US Foods name as much as possible.

You are correct, Allegiant would not be in Grand Forks if not for the Canadians coming down to use the airport. We can also probably thank them for the new air service to Denver from United that starts in October. The airport has tapped into the Canadian market and taken a small piece away from Winnipeg. Most of these travelers are from the area between Winnipeg and the border. They would still have to drive a distance to the airport, but can often save hundreds by flying out of Grand Forks. It is kind of like the people that used to drive to Fargo or Minneapolis to fly. Most of that traffic now uses Grand Forks because of the options and pricing now available. That market has a lot of room to grow and could be great for the airport and for bringing more options to Grand Forks travelers. The Canadians coming down to fly out don't normally do as much shopping in Grand Forks on that trip as the average Canadian shopper does. They are spending their money on the trip, so they don't have as much time to shop or as much money to spend as they would if they were just coming for the weekend. A lot of the people using the airport just drive in the day of the flight or the night before, and they often drive straight home without shopping much in Grand Forks. But the parking lot at the airport is usually filled with Manitoba plates.

The email concentrates on the disciplinary process for students. People on this board have not really talked about that portion at all. There is a process in place and it looks like that will happen. He mentions the criminal process, no one on this board has questioned that part. The court system will handle that. He barely mentions that students in co-curricular activities can also have a disciplinary process. This is where the disconnect has occurred on this issue with the general public. Football is a co-curricular activity. Football players are public figures and get benefits that the average student does not get. That is why the average person on the street has more interest in how the football players will be handled in this case. Bohl had developed a pattern of suspending players for a certain level of criminal activity and for repeat offenders. In this case he deviated from the pattern. It appears suspicious. On top of that, the athletic department starting right at the top with Gene Taylor, have tried to tell North Dakota citizens that this is not a big deal. He tried to frame the players as victims. The crimes the 10 players and 3 former players are charged with are class A misdemeanors, just a step below a felony. Class A misdemeanors are a step or more above the average crimes that most NDSU players have committed during the Bohl years, yet Bohl deviated from his normal suspension pattern. The crime itself is interfering with an election, a process that North Dakotans hold very dear. According to the evidence, the players admitted to investigators that they committed the crimes. But Bohl announced that he was going to wait until the criminal process had been completed, even though he seems to have plenty of information at his disposal. Yet the people at NDSU and many NDSU fans seem to have a real problem seeing why there is a huge PR problem right now. The issue has been fodder for national press. And the issue isn't going away. This email may calm people at NDSU, but it will probably have very little effect on the PR hit that NDSU is taking and will continue to take for a while.

Retail and hospitality are not the biggest segments of the Grand Forks economy. Agriculture, education, healthcare, defense, manufacturing and food processing are also large parts of the economy. Most of these segments have also had significant increases in the past 3-5 years. Also, Canadian traffic is important to the local retail economy, but US citizens still spend more money in Grand Forks retail establishments than Canadians do. If retail isn't the biggest segment of the economy,and if Canadian traffic is less than half of the retail market, and if most parts of the economy have seen increases in business, then it only seems logical that the increase in Canadian traffic is not the major factor in the overall increase seen in the Grand Forks economy. Increased Canadian traffic is one part of the success that Grand Forks is experiencing. It may be the major factor for the boom that Grand Forks hotels are experiencing and a major factor for retail and restaurants. But residents are also increasing their spending because more people are working and wages have increased in the region. There are also more people living in the region. So the increase in sales tax is not all because of Canadian traffic. Retail is the most visible part of the Grand Forks economy to the naked eye. But more Canadian shoppers isn't the major reason that Grand Forks is doing well economically. By the way, basing an opinion on the overall economy based on the number of license plates you perceive are in retail parking lots is not an effective way to come to a valid conclusion. Besides, your perception isn't exactly accurate. Monday through Thursday you will find only a small percentage of Canadian license plates. Many local people have shifted their shopping patterns because of the increased Canadian traffic and do their shopping during the week. On weekends there will be times when the number of Canadian plates may be close to 50%, but that isn't true every weekend. Throughout the entire week, much less than 50% of the cars in local retail establishment parking lots are Canadian. If you don't believe me, there are plenty of sources that can provide information on the entire economy of Grand Forks, information on sales tax and a rough breakdown of how much of retail sales comes from Canadian customers plus just about anything you want to know. Try contacting the Grand Forks-East Grand Forks Chamber, the Grand Forks Economic Development Corporation, the Convention and Visitors Bureau and the North Dakota Tax Commissioners office to start. I'm not going to do the work for you. If you want to prove me wrong you can do the homework and put actual numbers together.

There are approximately 2,400 jobs listed with Job Service North Dakota right now in the Grand Forks region, most in Grand Forks itself. A large number of those are retail, food service and other entry level type jobs. You're right, an outlet mall would add to that problem. A lot of people in the state, government and private enterprise people, are looking for answers to those issues. The problem is much worse the further west you go in the state.

Information from the Chamber of Commerce, experience in the market, talking to a variety of people in the business community, watching things like sales tax numbers and other economic indicators over the past 30 or so years. Remember, I said that the INCREASE IN SALES from Canadian traffic is a small part of the overall economic package in Grand Forks. Canadian visitors have always been an important part of the Grand Forks economy. They are coming in bigger numbers. But almost every segment of the Grand Forks economy is also doing bigger numbers than they were even 3-5 years ago. But I'm sure that you know much better from your pool in Arizona.

They may very well have called Hak the night of or the next day. That doesn't mean that he decided on punishments right away, or over a holiday weekend. The public doesn't need to know every detail of how the process worked. They do deserve to know that the coaches are aware of what is happening, and that the coaches are reacting to the situation in an appropriate manner.

Hotels definitely are being helped by the current exchange rate. The Canadian traffic are an important part of why we have seen several new hotels built in recent years. Overall, as a part of the Grand Forks economy, the increase in sales because of the better exchange rate is still only a small part of the total package.

September 2nd was a Sunday of a holiday weekend. I'm guessing that Hakstol knew by September 4th at the latest, maybe earlier, and that penalties were determined well before the announcement went public today.

The story about the Middle East was relevant because it shows how important the right to vote is to many people. This country was built on the right to vote. But way too many people associated with the NDSU football program don't seem to believe that interfering with the right to vote is a big deal. Gene Taylor himself said it wasn't a big deal. Stopping people from voting on this issue is a big deal, whether they prevented them from voting in November or they prevented the issue from being on the ballot. The effect is the same. People spent hundreds of thousands of dollars and thousands of hours trying to get this issue on the ballot so that voters could make a decision. 10 NDSU football players decided it was more important to take the easy way out and still make some money.

Your treatment of this issue tells us something. The really sad thing is that you have treated this issue with more respect than most of your pals at Bville.

The election process is a huge deal to me. It is a major part of what makes the United States different from all other countries in the world. Your players interfered with the process because they were lazy and stupid. That is a very big deal to me. It sounds like it is a big deal to the Secretary of State also. They are talking about trying to make voter fraud a felony, all because of what your buddies did and how the rest of your group is treating the issue like it isn't important. I have tried to deal in facts as much as possible, and where facts are known. The facts are that your players are charged with voter fraud. Reports say that every one of them admitted to committing that fraud. They should be punished for committing that crime. Your Athletic Director should treat this as a big deal, because the North Dakota citizens that employ him believe it is a big deal. Get back to me when someone in authority at NDSU treats this issue with the respect it deserves.

First, a lot of valid signatures were thrown out because of the forged signatures. The people refused to reaffirm the petitions, so all signatures on those petitions were thrown out. That is the way the system works, only signatures on valid petitions are accepted. We don't know if they would have had enough signatures to get on the ballot or not. So yes, the players and others did infringe on the voting rights of North Dakota citizens. Second, if the company knew that they weren't getting enough signatures they probably would have hired more people to get signatures. You know, people that were actually going to do the job that they were paid to do. The players and others gave Terra false confidence that they were successful. They had a lot of signatures already, so it is not out of the question that they could have gotten enough signatures if they knew they needed more. Again, the actions of the players and others interfered with the rights of the North Dakota voters. Your rationalizations of the players actions are really getting old. They forged signatures on legal documents. They interfered with the voting rights of North Dakota citizens. Way too many NDSU supporters don't seem to understand how big a deal this is, and that is sad. This is a big deal and your continued efforts to make excuses here are not going to help anyone.

The vendor selling products at the Alerus Center is new. They never had rights to sell the Sioux logo, and no new vendors are being added. REA will stop selling Sioux logo stuff at some point in the not to distant future, I haven't heard what date was set to stop shipping that product.

That isn't much of a defense. Bville takes shots at UND and Grand Forks when there isn't anything to make fun of, mainly out of some false sense of superiority. They sure can't take anything negative going on, they start blaming the media and anyone else that might question how important NDSU is in their small world. 13 current or former NDSU players commit voter fraud, and admit to it to investigators, yet they haven't done anything wrong and shouldn't be punished. Instead it is the fault of KFGO, the Forum, a conspiracy by UND alumni in government offices or anyone else that Bvillers can think of to blame.

Canadians did significant business in Grand Forks when their dollar was worth $0.60 on the American dollar. Canadian traffic is one of the reasons that Target and other large chains moved into Grand Forks during the late 1970's and early 1980's when the exchange rate was not favorable to them. They would continue to do significant business if the exchange rate went that way again. Prices on goods are much higher in Canada, which is a big driver for their shopping in the United States. The numbers have increased because of the more favorable exchange rate, but that increase is a fairly small part of the overall Grand Forks economy.

Count the number of threads about UND on Bville versus the number of threads about UND and then you can talk about which group is obsessed with which. And how many posts were on the nickname issue thread? You really don't like UND or Grand Forks do you?

Sorry to disappoint you, but the Canadian traffic is only one part of the economic activity in the area. The economic upswing isn't "largely" based on that one segment. It is based on ag, technology, UND, bleed-over from the oil boom and some other minor factors besides the Canadian traffic.

This seems to be a problem for Bison fans. Details are important. Proper identity is important. For example, it looks like you used a case of mistaken identity to accuse a UND player of something. A bunch of NDSU football players and ex-players used a whole bunch of cases of mistaken identity to try and make some money. Does everyone associated with NDSU need to learn how to use proper identity? How about an Identity 101 for all incoming students?

Are you speaking from experience? How about for your third MIP?

Considering that it was his 2nd offense in just a few months, he still deserves to be in the discussion. It shows a pattern in the program.

The last part of your argument sailed a long time ago. How many times has Bohl suspended players before they went to court? Multiple times. That is a large part of the problem. He has developed a pattern, and now he has deviated from that pattern when he had multiple players involved in season. It appears suspicious. A penalty given right now doesn't have to match the crime. Like tSic said, a 1 game suspension early for breaking team rules would have stop much of the turmoil, and a more serious penalty could be applied at a later date if it is needed. But someone charged with a crime at a certain level should be dealt with at that level and something public should have been done. Another part of the problem with this issue is that Taylor has basically said that this is not an important crime. Voters in North Dakota believe that interfering with a North Dakota election is rather important. The entire higher education system is under a microscope right now. Al Carlson and some of his minions would love nothing more than to take over higher education and "fix the problems" that they see. Football players committing crimes is just another red flag. In the past couple of months NDSU has had 1 player arrested for MIP and resisting arrest, another for indecent exposure, 10 current players charged with voter fraud, and 3 former players also arrested for voter fraud. The football team removed 1 player from the team, the rest were not even suspended for a single game. I'm sorry that you can't see the PR hit that NDSU football and NDSU as an institution are taking because of this issue. Carlson and his kind are going to claim that this shows the State Board of Higher Education is not in control of the individual schools and that the Legislature should take control of higher education. Taylor just dug the hole deeper with his comments on Saturday.

Maybe Taylor doesn't understand that a Class A Misdemeanor is just 1 step below a felony. From the North Dakota Century Code: So Beck was already sentenced for 1 offense and is facing 2 more in court, with 1 of those being a Class A Misdemeanor. I guess that there is no reason that he should be punished by the team, too.