While thinking about what to write for this week’s column, I came across a book in my vast collection entitled “Looking for Candles in the Window” by Douglas Ramsey and Larry Skroch. The book recalls the events of what was called the Red River Valley Blizzard in the spring of 1941. The 84rd anniversary of the storm was March 15.

By Bob Simmons, CEO, Simmons Multimedia Back in my childhood there were no computers or smartphones. Where I lived in western Massachusetts we had three TV channels; Channel 40 was ABC, Channel 22 was NBC and Channel 3 was CBS. I know you folks of a certain age who grew up in or around here had only two channels: Channel 8 and maybe if there was a strong wind from the north you could see a station from Winnipeg. On the East Coast, kids programs were relegated to Saturday morning cartoons, which ended at around 10am.

Snow. Sleet.

Another fun-filled state sports weekend is in the books! Last weekend we traveled to Jamestown to watch our girls’ basketball team in their run at state. Most of you probably listened to Jake or watched it on TV, so I don’t have to give a long recap of the games. The girls struggled in the first game and lost then went on to win the next two, which resulted in a 5th place finish. Overall it was a big accomplishment that we were at the state tournament in the first place after going unranked all season then pulling off a huge upset game against Benson County to win the region despite losing one of our top players to an ACL injury. Kudos to our players and coaches who never gave up and showed their tenacity up until the last second of the final game when a banked in 3-pointer won the game. Hilary Haaven will never forget that shot - neither will her teammates, coaches or parents, or anyone else who watched or listened.

Weather whiplash - a term I don’t remember ever hearing before, but I like it. According to AI it’s defined as ‘rapid shifts between extreme weather conditions, like droughts and floods.’ For us in Langdon, N.D., I’d say it’s more of a shift from wearing socks to no socks.

My goodness, has it been a busy week over here at The Borderland Press. In case you haven’t already noticed, this week’s publication is a whopping 30 pages total! We usually run 18-20 pages, but for the past few weeks, we’ve been working extra hard to deliver you our annual Ag Outlook special section! As Diane said this week, it takes a village, and I’m certainly grateful for my village here at The Borderland Press.

By Bob Simmons, CEO, Simmons Multimedia On Friday, March 7, Diane and I attended the sentencing of Cazmere Haskins for the felony murder of former Langdon resident Anfernee Economy. Anfernee worked for us at KNDK while in high school. Our son, Drew, is married to Anfernee’s sister, Ariel. We are close friends of the Economy family and wanted to show them our support. Haskins waived a hearing and was sentenced on the murder charge exactly one year to the day that he committed the crime.

On Monday, Feb. 24, the North Dakota House of Representatives, on a 52-40 vote, passed a resolution urging the United States Supreme Court to “restore the definition of marriage to a union between one man and one woman.” We, the undersigned residents of N.D., are angered and saddened by this action. We know this does not reflect the will of N.D. voters and we urge the N.D. Senate to vote NO when this resolution comes to their chamber.

By Bob Simmons, CEO, Simmons Multimedia Business people in our small communities share a common problem: the hiring and retention of employees. At Simmons, and I mean this lovingly, we are a band of misfits. Mostly everyone on our staff is from some other town, state or country. It’s true that the jobs we perform are specialized. Not everyone can report the news, write an article, sell the advertising, or lay out a paper. The radio side is even more challenging, as the talent pool for on-air and technical staff is extremely limited.

My favorite thing about driving a diesel Suburban is having random guys run up to me while I’m fueling up, asking if I realize that I’m putting diesel in my Suburban. The first time it happened, I was concerned that the frazzled dude was going to have a stroke, so I calmly informed him that yes, I knew I was putting diesel in my diesel Suburban. After the third time it happened, I started thinking about a new reaction plan involving tears, a wide-eyed look of shock and blubbering something about being “just a girl,” but the more I thought about it, the more I didn’t want to seem like a dumb blonde because – spoiler alert - I’m not dumb, and I’m not blonde.