Dolly Footitt - All's Well That Ends Well

December 30, 2016 -- I'm posting Dolly's photo now that she's out of the hospital. She didn't want me to post her picture and worry everyone while she was there. Just like her... thinking of everyone else! She thinks that she got panicked because she felt trapped in her house by the snow... and her blood pressure went up. 

Dolly spent two nights in the hospital, the 28th and 29th to get her blood pressure down and went home today, the 30th. The first thing she did when she went home was start cleaning her house... and she tripped, fell and hit her head on the cabinet, and created what some people call a goose-egg bump...quite big. Just at that time I was coming over to have coffee with her... and immediately took her back to the hospital. Poor Dolly!!!

Doc Geier had already given her every test in the world while she was in the hospital the first time... except a brain scan. This time he gave her a brain scan, said she had a great brain, and Dolly said that was good news, and I took her home again. 

What a day! Everything turned out okay, though, thank God. Dolly is such a trooper, though... didn't complain about anything. She's at home now, taking it easy. No house-cleaning for a few days! Now would be a good time to give her a call and wish her well. 

(The above picture of Dolly was taken on December 28th, at 102 years old. Isn't she beautiful!!!)

Dolly Footitt Thanks the Kubals

I recently posted a picture of Dolly Footitt on my CarringtonNews.com/Facebook page along with her special thank you to her neighbors, the Kubals.  It went like this:

Dolly Footitt wants to say a special thanks to the Kubal family who live across the street from her. "Thank you, Jerome, Teresa, Auna and Matt for digging me out of the big snow banks around my house. I hope you like the brownies I made for you!" (As many of you know, Dolly is one of the oldest residents in Carrington. She turned 102 on October 4th this year... and pretty much takes care of herself. She does all of her own housework, gardening, cooking, baking for herself and others, and drives herself to church on Sunday. Shoveling heavy snow is too much for her, though, although she probably doesn't like to admit it. It's really nice to know that the Kubals are watching out for Dolly and helping her with difficult situations like this. She is especially happy now that she can get outside to feed the birds that she was so worried about. So, KUDOS TO THE KUBALS for being Dolly's great neighbors and friends. God bless you.)

I wish I had a picture of the Kubal family to post along with this article.  They are a wonderfully thoughtful family and should be recognized around the Carrington community.

Here are a few more pictures of Dolly which I took at the Federated Church Holiday Fair this year in December.  That's where Dolly goes to church and helps out at all the festivities.  This year she made a coconut cream pie and chocolate pie for the luncheon.  I noticed that when ordering their lunch, many of the ladies asked specifically for a piece of Dolly's pie.  She's a marvelous baker!

 In the years that I've known Dolly, since I moved to North Dakota in 2004, we've become the best of friends.  We go to most of Carrington's special events together, drive to Jamestown to shop and have lunch at Perkins, have coffee with our friends at the Prairie Inn on Fridays, drive all around Carrington taking pictures, and have coffee/pie/cookies/bars at her house quite often. 

Dolly may be 102 years old, but she is young at heart and an absolute delight to be around.  I am so grateful for her friendship.

Foster County State's Attorney Paul Murphy Exposed

Read the following information that exposes State's Attorney Paul Murphy, and judge for yourself if he is fit to serve the citizens of Foster County.  

The following are two separate documents that were introduced into a filmed deposition of State's Attorney Paul Murphy, occurring on November 28, 2016, regarding a civil cause of action for libel (Ted Keller vs. Dean Tracy, Case No. 47-2016-CV00258).  

Paul Murphy had no knowledge of the facts of the case, other than Dean Tracy libeled Ted Keller.  He was brought in to testify as to Keller's character. Unfortunately for Murphy, he did not realize that when you wish to testify as to someone's character, your own character and honesty can be examined.

Part one of the video concerns mostly Murphy's background.  The innocuous examination as to where he lived for his entire life is very important to the issues which are addressed in Document 2/Exhibit 3.

The first document is referred to as Exhibit 2 in the filmed deposition.  The second document is referred to as Exhibit 3.  The deponent (person being deposed) was former Foster/Griggs County State's Attorney Paul Murphy.   The party asking the questions is the plaintiff, Ted Keller.

The deposition of  Paul Murphy was filmed and published in three parts on YouTube:   VIDEO 1  /    VIDEO 2   /    VIDEO 3

Document 1, Exhibit 2

On or about April 11, 2012, then Griggs County State's Attorney Paul Murphy created and served a false Subpoena Dues Tecum  to Verizon Wireless (Document 1, Exhibit 2) by fax demanding a cell phone record that he claimed he owned.   The demand also included a demand for records for an additional cell phone that he claimed in the deposition that he didn't know who owned it or used it.  He claimed that he "had no idea of who it belonged to."  (See  Video 2/9:57)

Information has come out since the time of the discovery of these documents (by CarringtonNews.com) that the additional cell phone number belonged to the Griggs County Sheriff. 

At that same time, Marina Spahr, then-wife of Murphy, worked as Griggs County Assistant State's Attorney.  More interesting is at this time there were rumors of a relationship between Murphy's wife, Spahr, and the Griggs County Sheriff.    Apparently, Spahr was using the target phone number for her personal cell phone number.  

It's easy to see that the purpose of Murphy's subpoena was to obtain whom his wife called, whom she texted, whom she received texts from, and most importantly where she was at all times, as well as where the sheriff was at all times.   As clearly stated in the subpoena, Murphy attempted to use the power of his office as Griggs County State's Attorney to spy on his wife and her "friend."

During the deposition, when Murphy was questioned about the numerous obvious instances of fraud contained in this document (Document 1/Exhibit2), he objected and refused to answer... becoming quite irritated.  (See  Part 2 of the Paul Murphy/Foster County/YouTube video starting at 9:57)

This first document  (Document1/Exhibit 2) was the first of two false documents that Murphy used to spy on his wife and her "friend."

The second document (Document 2/Exhibit3) was issued fraudulently by Paul Murphy under the jurisdiction of the Spirit Lake Nation Tribal Court.  This document will be discussed later after we examine his first act of fraud upon the system.

Just look at a partial list of false statements contained in Document 1/Exhibit 2  in Griggs County State's Attorney Murphy's first attempt to spy on his wife and her “friend.” (Document1/Exhibit2)

1.     The heading of the Subpoena, claims that it is being issued under the authority of the “State of North Dakota, In the District.” No county or district is mentioned as to its origin.

2.     The Subpoena claims to be titled as “In re Paul Murphy.”  This case title directly conflicts with the paragraph directly above his signature in the document which attests "This is a civil litigation wherein the information requested is necessary for the prosecution of the case between Marina Spahr and Paul Murphy, Litigants respectively.”

3.     This statement about the litigation between Spahr and Murphy is also false because, according to Court records, the action between Spahr and Murphy under Case No. 02-2012-DM-00103 was not filed until September 17, 2012.  Although the date on Murphy’s signature is incorrectly stated as April 11, 2011, both the witness and the text in the demand reflect the correct year.  Therefore, his statement of a pending action is completely false since there was no action pending between these parties on April 11, 2012.

4.     The next fraud involves the case number in the subpoena which is stated as “2012-C-1599.”  Every North Dakota Court case number includes the number of the court district and county number.  Neither number is included in the case number because there is no such case on file, therefore no such case number.

5.     The next fraud and abuse upon the process of the Court is contained in his claim that he is acting on the authority of his office as Griggs County State's Attorney and the State of North Dakota.  Does the State's Attorney and the State of North Dakota have any interest in the divorce action between Murphy and this wife?  Better still, how can he be acting in the State's interest?

          During the deposition' Murphy refused to admit or deny that he owned the cell phone number, citing his "no-relevance" objection.

6.     The next fraud by Murphy upon the State of North Dakota is his demand to Verizon for the production of records for cell number (701) 789-0100.  When asked about the additional cell phone that he wished to spy upon, he didn’t know who owned the cell phone.  It has been established that the cell phone belonged to the Sheriff of Griggs County. 

7.     All of the responses to these requests were not to be sent to Griggs County State's Attorney Office in Cooperstown where his wife served and had an office as Griggs County State's Attorney.  Murphy commanded all responsive documents be sent to his office in Carrington.  One could conclude that he did not want his soon-to-be-ex-wife learning of his spying on her cell phone and that of her “friend,” the Griggs County Sheriff.

8.     Murphy also admonished and commanded Verizon under his authority as State's Attorney that the documents sought are “confidential… and should not be released to anyone other than the person requesting the information.”   To emphasize this point he made sure this part of his multi-subject paragraph above his signature, was placed in bold.

9.     Murphy’s demand again refers to his authority of his office by referring to himself in the plural tense in his statement that “We here by request that you fax the records to…”  Who is we?  Surely it is not the State of North Dakota and the District Court.

10.  The last proof of the fraud of this document is that the demand is made under the authority of the State of North Dakota and the Griggs County State's Attorney District Court, and yet he signs as “Paul Murphy (05166) Attorney at Law Pro Se”

Based upon all the inconsistent statements in Murphy's phony document (Document 1,Exhibit 2), Verizon may have questioned its validity.

Document 2/Exhibit 3

Deposition Document 2/Exhibit “3” is Murphy’s next fraud upon Verizon, occurring on or around August, 2012.  In order to get the records he wanted, he apparently filed a divorce action against his wife in the Spirit Lake Tribal Court solely to once again spy on his soon to be ex-wife and the same other person.

Notice in the deposition Murphy was questioned at length about the fact that he never lived within the jurisdiction of Spirit Lake Reservation, and he was and is not a member of their tribe.  Using their jurisdiction was another  fraud.

It should be noted that Murphy knew that this was a fraud.  He had been states attorney for several counties and knew of jurisdictional issues which precluded him from filing any personal divorce issue in any tribal court.

Judge for yourself.  It is obvious that State's Attorney Murphy used his office and the resources of the tax payers of the State of North Dakota to spy upon his wife and her alleged lover.  

Just think.  This is the attorney who is in charge of prosecuting criminals for Foster County.  How can this person have the moral high-ground to represent the people of Foster County and North Dakota?  Paul Murphy should have no moral, legal or ethical authority to represent the people of North Dakota in any capacity.

DOCUMENT 1 / EXHIBIT 2:


_________________________________________________________________

DOCUMENT 2 / EXHIBIT 3:

http://carringtonnews.blogspot.com/2016/12/paul-murphy-foster-county-nd-states.html

Carrington Lights Up the Night at Christmas

The streets of Carrington are already starting to light up with Christmas decorations. 

Again this year, the Chamber of Commerce is having a lighting contest. All during the month of December they will be looking for homes with outstandingly beautiful, decorative, unique lighting. 

                                     

Cash prizes will be given to the winners of the contest at the end of the Christmas season. Judging from the past, there will be some pretty tough competition because Carrington residents love to light up the city!

                          

Here are a few more examples from the past.... 

This picture is of Dolly Footitt, my 102-year-old friend, standing by the lit-up pole in her front yard. She actually still puts the lights on that pole herself! Amazing lady! Dolly and I will be driving around town taking pictures, so please wave if you see us! 

Thanks to all of you who make our evening "light tours" so delightful.

                                      

                                     

                                    

Harry Hayashi's Rainbow Gardens - Carrington, ND

Since moving to Carrington over 12 years ago, I've been fascinated with the story of the Rainbow Gardens and Harry Hayashi.

My friend, Dolly Footitt (who turned 102 in October), has wonderful memories of the Rainbow Gardens, the Hayashi family and that era. She talks about how sad it was when Mr. Hayashi was taken away to be interned in a camp during WWII. He and his family had created a wonderful place here in Carrington - the Rainbow Gardens - where popular bands from all over the country came to play. 

Would you believe that the following entertainers came to Carrington: Duke Ellington, Conway Twitty, Louie Armstrong, Jimmy Dorsey, Tiny Hill, Wayne King, Blue Barron, Buddy Murrow, and many other popular bands of that era. It was an awesome entertainment center with a good restaurant, lodging and beautiful gardens.

When I recently posted a link to a Fargo Forum article about the Rainbow Gardens, Harry Hayashi's grandson John wrote me a very nice note and sent some of their family pictures of The Gardens.  I was so happy to receive John's message and the special photos which he sent.   



John said that his father George (Harry's son)  had passed away at the beginning of October at the age of 89... and that Carrington was always the topic of conversation in the last few months of his life.  John said that they "were able to find many family photos and even in the sadness of my dad's passing discover that Todd Goheen the funeral director was a Carrington kid who lived in the next Wisconsin town over."

"I guess Carrington never leaves you,"  John said.



If you lived in the Carrington area at that time, please share your memories of the Rainbow Gardens and that era with us.

Just Thinking about Veteran's Day...

Just thinking about Veteran's Day... coming up on Friday, November 11th.... 

Now that Donald Trump and Mike Pence have been elected as president and vice president of our country, I know that our veterans will be treated better than they have been during the Obama administration. 

One of the things that impressed me most while watching/listening to President-Elect Trump's speeches was that he always honored our veterans, our military, and our law enforcement. The cheers from his huge crowds showed that they appreciated Trump's feelings and his commitment to watching over their well-being if he were elected President. 

It may be a little slow and rocky at first, but I have faith that Donald Trump will do his best to follow through with his commitments. 

Hooray for our veterans, our military, our law enforcement... and the USA!!!

2016 Foster County Election Results

FOSTER COUNTY COMMISSIONERS

Congratulations and thanks to every person who took the time and energy to run for commissioner of Foster County. We really appreciate the fact that you were willing to serve our community in that capacity. The following candidates received the most votes and have been elected to be commissioners in the following districts.

DISTRICT 1 -- PATRICK COPENHAVER
  

DISTRICT 2 -- ALAN SCANSON

DISTRICT 3 -- DAVID UTKE

DISTRICT 4 -- LINDA SCHUSTER received the most votes but had moved out of the district, so we're not sure what will transpire here. Perhaps the new commissioners will appoint someone.

DISTRICT 5 -- BECKYHAGEL

Also, congratulations to the following people who won their offices. Thank you for your time, energy and service to Foster County

STATE'S ATTORNEY -- PAUL MURPHY

COUNTY TREASURER -- DIANNE HERTEL

COUNTY SHERIFF -- ALAN MATTICE

DIRECTOR, GARRISON DIVERSION CONSERVANCY --STEVE METZGER

The AMBULANCE LEVY measure passed with the following count:
YES - 912
NO - 791

We look forward to working with and supporting so many people who are willing to do their best for Foster County. Thank you again for your service.

(For complete/detailed results click on the following link:
http://results.sos.nd.gov/resultsSW.aspx…)

CONGRATULATIONS to Bill Sutherland - Menards Employee of the Month

Congratulations to Bill Sutherland - Employee of the Month at Menards in Jamestown!

We're so glad that Menards appreciates Bill Sutherland's expertise in their electronics department and is honoring him as "Employee of the Month."    I wonder if the store manager and his fellow workers in Jamestown have seen the side of Bill that so many of us here in Carrington appreciate.  

Of course, most of us with computers have benefited from Bill's  Carrington Computer business, his knowledge of electronics, and his ability to raise computers from the dead.  I love to tell the story of how he came to service a dead computer at my house... and while he was just standing there talking about it, it came back to life... as if the mother board wasn't blown and it hadn't been sitting with a black screen for days.  It lit right up and worked fine without him doing a thing except look at it.  

The folks in Carrington also appreciate Bill's way with plants and gardening.  A lot of us have flower and vegetable gardens filled with his plants which thrive well in our area.  He likes to experiment with different varieties of plants and even raises seedless tomatoes for people who love tomatoes but can't digest seeds.  He has helped his wife Phyllis create and nurture Dakota Girl Gardens where he has created some beautiful and clever flower arrangements.  For instance, the flowering boot in this photo is one of his creations. 

 We're happy that Bill is enjoying his employment at Menards, and we're very glad that they are showing how much they value his service.  However, we miss the days when he had time to visit our offices and homes during the day to brighten up our lives with some of his special plants.  And, we miss having lunches with him and Phyllis in their greenhouse when it was freezing outside during the coldest months of the year.  Hopefully, on some cold winter day, when Bill isn't working at Menards, we'll get another fun invitation to one of his greenhouse lunches.  A special treat to look forward to! :)

North Dakotans Friendly/Helpful... Most of the Time

North Dakota is noted for the way people help each other out when troubles arise. We often see someone giving a helping hand to someone else who needs it at the time. Later, we might see the person who needed help passing on that positive energy to someone else in need. Most North Dakotans are good examples of the "paying forward" theory.

Today, when I had a flat tire in a precarious place on the way to Jamestown, I experienced the negative energy of a different kind of North Dakotan.... someone who criticizes instead of helps in a troubling situation. This person actually stopped to tell the farmer who was helping us that we were "causing a traffic jam" ... on a road where only one other car passed in the hour that we were there.

We had managed to limp our car away from traffic onto a graveled country road off the main highway . We made one call to a friend, a farmer who immediately left a busy part of his day, to come and help us. He parked his truck beside our car and was in the process of lifting a tire, when this intruder decided to stop his vehicle and criticize us.

Although we were double-parked on this country road, while fixing our tire, there was room for cars to pass us safely on the left. A kind person in a situation like this would have offered to help out or at least make sure that we were okay. In fact, the only other driver on that country road did just that, looked to make sure we were doing okay and then waved and passed on.

This negative fellow, however, had to stop and have words with our farmer/friend who was helping. I guess what bothers me most about this incident is the fact that we know the person who acted this way. The image that he cultivates in our community is one of being a kind, thoughtful person. In this case, he was not at all kind, and did not act the way a typical North Dakotan (or any kind person) would act.

By the way, while we were on the main highway, right after our tire blew, we were surprised to hear a voice coming from the nearby railroad track. There was a railroad inspector actually driving a truck along the tracks who stopped to see if he could help us in any way. We thanked him and explained that help was already on the way. After we assured him that we were okay, he drove on down the track. That man is the sort of person that we can rely on and depend on to help out ... especially in a state like ours where you can be stuck on the side of the road in below zero weather. 

Thankfully, most North Dakotans are like the railroad man and our farmer/friend - ready to give a helping hand when needed.  

Touching the Sun with Dolly Footitt

Here is my "most recent" favorite picture of my friend, Dolly Footitt, who will be 102 years old on October 4th.  Sunflowers are her favorite flowers, and as she says, "Touching a sunflower is like touching the sun..."   I'm very thrilled to say that this photo won the "Photo of the Day" award on the "Capture Dakota" photography website... all due to Dolly's sweetness, of course!

Dolly and I drove all around the Foster County area this last week, admiring all the crops and taking lots of pictures of them.  No matter how hard we tried to give attention to all the wonderful crops in our area, we mostly concentrated on the sunflowers.  We just couldn't stay away from them.  Even though it was rather hot and muggy, Dolly said she just had to get out and touch them.... so she did!

Here are a few more of the pictures that I took that day....   I especially like the ones with the Carrington Water Tower peeking above the field of sunflowers.  You can tell exactly where these fields are located since there is no other water tower in the state.. or the country, for that matter... with such a patriotic tower overlooking the city.

Young Hawks in Our Neighborhood

There are lots of young Cooper's Hawks flying around our Carrington neighborhood right now.  Sad to say, none of them were actually raised in the big tree in my front yard.  For three years a hawk couple came back to raise their little ones in the same nest nestled in the sturdy branches.  Time and the weather took its toll on the nest, however, and it's no longer a safe place for raising babies.

Even though the current young hawks weren't raised in my front yard, they seem to like my big trees.  They are constantly flying from limb to limb and swooping down onto the grass to play with each other and eat their prey.  Sad to say, for birdwatchers, the other birds have left the neighborhood.  They know better than to stay within reach of these hungry predators.

Foster County Commissioners - Evolving to Five Districts/Five Members

SPECIAL MEETING - JUNE 27, 2016

The Foster County commission as per requirements of the North Dakota Century Code met in a special meeting on June 27, 2016.  They decided to form a citizens' committee to work with the commissioners on the creation of five districts.  This is the result of the community voting to have five commissioners instead of three.  The meeting will be held tonight, June 29th, at 6 o'clock.  Committee members consist of Becky Hagel, Ted Keller, Gilbert Black, Steve Metzger.

After the adoption of the five districts, the commissioners will appoint two new commissioners to serve with them till the November General Election. ( All commissioners will be up for election in November.)   Anyone wanting to be one of the newly appointed commissioners should contact Josh Dreher, Pat Copenhaver, or Roger Gussiaas as soon as possible today.

SPECIAL MEETING - JUNE 29, 2016

The Foster County Commissioners met with a special committee this evening, June 29th, to determine how the county would be divided into five districts.  The committee members - Becky Hagel, Steve Metzger, Gilbert Black and Ted Keller - presented their ideas to the commissioners.  Chairman Dreher shared his plan with everyone, and Commissioners Gussiaas and Copenhaver presented their thoughts regarding all the plans. It was obvious that they had all put a lot of time and effort into figuring out how the districts would be similar in population - which was a main requirement for districting.   At the end of the discussion, the commission accepted the plan upon which Becky Hagel, Steve Metzger and Gilbert Black had collaborated.

The commissioners decided to wait until tomorrow evening, June 30th, at 7:30 p.m. when they will meet to appoint two commissioners who will serve with them until the November election.   Any Foster County resident wanting to be one of the newly appointed commissioners should contact Josh Dreher, Pat Copenhaver, or Roger Gussiaas as soon as possible in order to be considered for an appointment.  By the end of tomorrow's meeting, Foster County will have five commissioners.

At the November general election, all five district commission positions will be on the ballot.  Anyone wishing to run for commissioner of his/her district in November, needs to turn in an application to the auditor by September 9, 2016

ANNOUNCEMENT/UPDATE/JULY 1, 2016

The Foster County Commissioners appointed two additional commissioners at the July 1st meeting this morning. They are Becky Hagel and John Murphy. Added to Chairman Josh Dreher, Vice Chairman Pat Copenhaver, and Roger Gussiaas, Foster County now has five commissioners - which is what the community voted for at the June Primary election.

THE FOSTER COUNTY "DEPENDENT" GETS IT WRONG - AGAIN

It is interesting to me as a newcomer to Carrington (only 12 years as a resident, 14 years as a property owner), it seems  the local newspaper (the official newspaper for Foster County) never gets it right when it comes to reporting county business.  In this article, the Foster County Independent will henceforth be referred to as the "Dependent."

Since I have arrived, the local weakly newspaper (The Foster County "Dependent") has two constant  themes to their stories and editorials about city and county government.  The first theme is their unqualified support to each and every new tax proposal.  The second is their inability to accurately report what happens at the county commission meetings.

The best example of their inability to report what took place is at the last commissioners meeting (June 21, 2016) about the mandatory districting (not "re-districting") to five commissioner districts as required by North Dakota Century Code.  The code states:

"11-12-04. Increase in number of commissioners authorized - New districts formed. When the returns of an election to pass on the question of increasing the number of county commissioners in a county show that a majority of the votes cast on the question favored such increase, the board of county commissioners, within ten days after the votes have been canvassed, shall divide the county into five commissioners' districts. Such districts shall be numbered from one to five."

In the "Dependent's" (June 27, 2016) front page article about the meeting, they quote sections of the North Dakota Century Code (11-17-01 et.al) that are applicable to re-districting current districts due to the census that takes place every ten years. This section DOES NOT APPLY to the creation of a district... hence the word "re-district."  You wouldn't use the term "re-invent the wheel" if no wheel existed.

Where did the reporter covering the meeting get the inapplicable code section quoted in the Dependent?  It was not quoted at the meeting.

Once again the Murphys have written the story for the "Dependent."  This is evidenced by the ad placed by commissioner candidate, John Murphy, in which he quotes the inapplicable code sections. Also, the "Dependent" published Paul Murphy's Letter naming the current commission as evil, gerrymandering and power-hungry  - along with the wrong drawing of the commission's plan for the new districts.  Yet, the "Dependent" did not publish the Commissions' submission to the newspaper of statistical analysis of the situation, based on census and population data, explaining why they divided the county as they did; nor did Stock publish the correct drawing of their map.  

Why did the "Dependent" choose to publish Paul Murphy's inaccurate, lambasting personal letter to the editor instead of publishing the Foster County Commission's submission of an accurate map and statistical reasons for diving the county as they proposed to do?

Also, if the Foster County "Dependent"" were a real newspaper, they would ask candidate John Murphy if there was a citizen complaint against him for openly violating the corrupt practice election codes.  The evidence of this is contained in the ads Murphy ran in the "Dependent" where he failed to disclose the person paying for the ad as required by North Dakota Century Code Section 16.1-10-04.1. This section requires:

"Every political advertisement by newspaper, pamphlet or folder, display card, sign, poster, or billboard, website, or by any other similar public means, on behalf of or in opposition to any candidate for public office, designed to assist, injure, or defeat the candidate by reflecting upon the candidate's personal character or political action, or by a measure committee as described
in section 16.1-08.1-01, or a corporation making an independent expenditure either for or against a measure, must disclose on the advertisement the name of the person, as defined in section 16.1-08.1-01, or political party paying for the advertisement."

Candidate Murphy violated this section on at least three occasions in the Foster County "Dependent."  These violations were brought to the attention of the reporter that covers Foster County, and yet there has never been a mention of it in the "Dependent."

A real newspaper would want to investigate corrupt practices by any candidate -- seemingly not the "Dependent," however.   Why would the "Dependent" want to investigate the Murphys when they spend so much money with the newspaper?

A better question is why would a candidate for state's attorney, Paul Murphy, run numerous ads in the Foster County "Dependent" when he is running completely unopposed?  When you run unopposed, you only need one vote to win.  He wants to have the Foster County "Dependent" to stay dependent.  There is a serious question that Paul Murphy has not violated the corrupt practices act, himself.    For what other reason would he purchase these unnessary ads, if not to sway favorable articles and editorial content in the Foster County "Dependent" toward himself and his father?

Take a look at this section of the North Dakota Century code, and interpret it for yourself: "16.1-10-05. Paying owner, editor, publisher, or agent of newspaper to advocate or oppose candidate editorially prohibited.  No person may pay or give anything of value to the owner, editor, publisher, or agent of any newspaper or other periodical, or radio or television station, to induce the person to advocate editorially or to oppose any candidate for nomination or election, and no such owner, editor, publisher, or agent may accept such inducement."

Admittedly, the Foster County "Dependent" is a great source for finding out who won local awards or the scores of area sports. You can't beat Erik Gjovik's coverage of our local sports events and the impressive action photos that go along with his stories. 

However, before you believe anything from the "Dependent" regarding the Foster County Commissioners meetings and/or local political issues, remember who is paying for the story and the opinion.