I had to reply to this one. First, I haven’t heard from, or
about, Eddie Parisien for 40+ years. He was a fun guy back in high
school and we never had a dull moment! Secondly, I had no idea that
Brenda Hoffman’s pink and white ’55 Ford Victoria was still in existence
let alone right here in the area. When Harvey, Brenda’s dad, found that
car for her, it was in like new condition and with the pink and white
color inside and out it was what we called a ‘girl’s car’. Beautiful
little car for Brenda to drive. Harvey had a knack for finding mint
condition older cars and always kept them in tip top shape. I remember
Dale Hoffman’s cars well too. He had a bright red Model A Ford coupe
with disc wheels and full disc wheel covers. He next owned a black and
yellow ’55 Ford Victoria like the pink and white one Brenda had. It was
also really nice shape. My own first car, A Model A 4 door, is still
sitting in my quonset. I bought it in tough shape from my uncle Cliff
Johnson for $50. and fixed it back up a bit with a home brew paint job
and other parts I found locally. It certainly wasn’t anything even
close to the Model A Dale drove. That one was nice! Thanks Gary!
Dick
Forwarded messagefrom Dick Johnson (’68): Dunseith, ND
Bill Hosmer’s (’48) reply to the Williston Oil Memo below:Dick and all, That is an interesting portrayal of fast advancing development. There is
much to be gained, but not without social, environmental, and legal impacts. It is so dramatic to me after my years in the agricultural setting and small town civility that characterized our state. It a different way of life with unheard of monetary drama for the oil owners as well as the supporting service businesses, and main street stores and shops. It is devastatingly profitable for many. Bill Hosmer
Gary Stokes’ reply to the Williston Oil Memo below:Dick,
This is so interesting. The Williston area clearly can not handle all the people. In time, hopefully, they will build accommodations to support/accommodate all these folks. In doing that, the problem may be being able to sustain and keep all these folks employed in the post drilling years.
The last item, 35, caught my eye. Many folks in this country (Philippines) become Nurses with the intent of getting employment in the USA or many of the other countries around the world. Upon completion of their schooling, they have to pass a national examine in this country to officially become an RN. The average passing rate is less than 50%. The test is given only once a year, so those that fail have to wait a whole year to retake the exam. In time the majority do pass. For those seeking employment in the USA, after they have passed the PI test, they must pass the USA test. Many end up retaking this one too. These tests are pretty hard. The average wage for a registered nurse in our area is about $7.00 per day. Up in Manila the RN wages are a bit higher at about $10.00 per day. Bernadette has a few cousins in NY, NJ, TN, TX and CA that went this route a number of years ago. They have done very well in their nursing careers over the years too.
The going rate for tooth extractions at the local dental offices are $5.00. Several years ago Bernadette had a beautiful 3 unit porcelain Bridge done that cost us $250. Had she gone to the mall, it would have been triple that, but that too would have been a great deal.
Gary
Williston Oil Memo
A meeting was held of the ND Sheriffs & Deputies Association in Bismarck, as part of this meeting we had an opportunity to sit down with Law Enforcement from western ND to discuss what they are going through with oil impact. Here is a summary of points made:
1. Currently there are a …total of 84 companies involved in the oil industry in western ND.
2. It takes between 2000 and 2200 semi loads of water per well. Currently there are 258 wells in progress with so many scheduled it is hard to determine the exact amount.
3. Traffic accidents, especially fatal traffic accidents are of very high concern. At one location on Highway 85 south of Williston, a traffic count was conducted in October of 2011. In one 24 hour period of time there where 29,000 vehicle through the intersection looked at with 60% of the traffic being semis.
4. Traffic is typically backed up for ½ to ¾ of a mile. One of the guys stated that one day last week he sat at an intersection on Highway 85 for about 30 minutes to get a big enough opening to cross over.
5. They have closed the weigh scale house because it was causing such a traffic jamb that it was closing the roadway.
6. Rent in Williston currently is: $ 2000 for a one bedroom to $ 3400 for a three bedroom.
7. They have no more hook ups for campers any where in the area.
8. Williams County allows three campers per farmstead, the farmers almost all have three campers on their property and are charging $ 800 – 1000 per camper per month for rent.
9. Wal Mart in Williston no longer stocks shelves, they bring out pallets of merchandise at night, and set it in the isles, people then take off the pallets what they want.
10. On 1-1-12, the Williston Wal Mart had 248 campers overnight in their parking lot.
11. Willams County wrecked a pickup and ended up bringing it to Bismarck for repairs because there no available body shops to do the work. Williams County has purchased a trailer and has started to bring vehicles to the Bismarck area for repairs. Willaims County took a pickup in for ball joints and front brakes, the shop charged them $ 2800 for the repairs.
12. Williston and Williams County now produces more taxable sales than any other area in ND.
13. The Williams County jail has increased booking by 150%. With a 100% increase in inmate population. Bonds of $ 5k to $ 10 K are typically paid with cash out of pocket. The Williams County Sheriff stated that a couple of week ago he received a $ 63,000 bond in cash carried into the jail in a plastic Wal Mart bag.
14. Williams County Sheriffs Department has more than doubled in staff over the last two years, they are now buying trailer houses that come up for sale to rent to newly hired deputies.
15. Williams County new starting salary with the academy is $ 46,000 plus 100% of all benefits paid.
16. They are in a continuous hiring cycle, they have no set budget at this time, the Sheriff has been told to manage his office to the best of his abilities and keep the Commission updated, but do not worry about the budget.
17. The Williston McDonalds just announced that they will pay $ 25 an hour, a $ 500 immediate sign on bonus and a single medical plan paid for a manager trainee.
18. The restaurants are full and with limited staff to work in them they usually just have the drive through open. The restaurants that have inside seating are now an hour wait at all times.
19. Law Enforcement in the Williams County area cannot provide training to staff due to time constraints and no location to hold training.
20. The local Motel 6 in Williston now rents rooms fro $ 129.95 per night.
21. Law Enforcement no longer does any proactive work (school programs, community services, house checks) they do very little traffic related issues as well, they just to from call to call. Bars fights are one of the biggest issues.
22. Other law enforcement issues include the strip clubs. The local clubs have now started what is called babe buses. These buses go out to areas and pick up people and bus them back and forth to the strip clubs, the buses have poles on them as well as live entertainment.
23. Drug problems are immense, and they are seeing narcotics that they have never seen in the area before, like black tar heroin.
24. The civil process section of the Sheriffs Department use to average 1800 paper a year, they are now doing 4500 processes a year.
25. Law Enforcement said that they make as many Driving under the influence arrest at 10 Am as they do at midnight.
26. Illegal aliens have become a huge problem, especially getting the proper authorities to remove them from the Country.
27. The current thought from the oil companies is that the area will continue to grow as it has over the past two years for the next five years and stay for ten years. At the end of the ten years they feel the communities will drop in population somewhat.
28. The current thought is that the oil companies will be drilling wells on every 1280 acres of leased land, this way they have tied up the land and do not have to release the property.
29. The Williston General Motors dealership has now become the number 1 seller of Corvettes in the upper Midwest.
30. The bigger oil companies are doing very well in hiring good people. They run checks and make sure the people they hire are drug free; it is the smaller companies that are having trouble-hiring people that will look the other way on hiring issues.
31. They said they do not know anybody anymore. The Sheriff of Williams County he used to be able to go to Wal Mart and not walk very far without knowing somebody, now he does not know any of the people in there.
32. Many of the local citizens are taking retirement and moving out of the area.
33. They have an extreme amount of alcohol abuse going on. They have more calls than ever of drunk people trying to get into houses, to find out they are at the wrong place.
34. Minot population has grown by a projected 9000 people since the completion of the census. Minot is expecting to reach a population of 75,000 in the next three to five years.
35. Trinity Hospital in Minot has just hired 115 nurses from the Philippians to work at the hospital, as they cannot get enough local nurses to apply.
Suddenly I realized, I must have left them in the car. Frantically, I headed for the parking lot. My wife, Diane, has scolded me many times for leaving the keys in the ignition. My theory is the ignition is the best place not to lose them. Her theory is that the car will be stolen.
As I burst through the doors of the church, I came to a terrifying conclusion. Her theory was right. The parking lot was empty. I immediately called the police. I gave them my location, confessed I had left my keys in the car, and it had been stolen.
Then I made the most difficult call of all. “Honey,” I stammered. I always call her “honey” in times like these. “I left my keys in the car, and it has been stolen.” There was a period of silence. I thought the call had been dropped, but then I heard Diane’s voice. “Ken,” she barked, “I dropped you off!”
Now it was my time to be silent. Embarrassed, I said, “Well, come and get me.”
Diane retorted, “I will, as soon as I convince this policeman I have not stolen your car.”